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A  FEW  EXTRACTS 

FROM  NOTICES  RECEIVED  IN  RELATION  TO 

THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE 

By  JOHN  COWAN,  M.  D. 


These  notices  were  entirely  unsolicited.  They  are  the  free  untrammelled 
expressions  of  papers  of  acknowledged  authority  and  power ;  of  persons  of 
recognized  merit  and  reputation;  and  of  readers ,  who  on  paying  for  and 
studying  the  book,  felt  impressed  to  send  their  meed  of  praise.  Of  the  many 
extracts  from  readers  letters,  those  given  here  are  but  a  moiety  of  the  hundreds 
on  file  at  the  office  of  the  publishers. 

No  other  book  yet  published  on  the  subject  on  which  this  one  treats,  has  met 
with  so  universal  an  approval  for  the  unexceptionable  manner  in  which  it 
advances  rules  and  suggestion  for  the  elevation  and  happiness  of  man  and 
womankind. 


\_From  the  Christian  Union ,  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  Editor.  ] 

A  new  Edition  of  “The  Science  of  a  New  Life’’  gives  us  the  opportuni¬ 
ty  of  saying  that  it  seems  to  us  to  be  one  of  the  wisest  and  purest  and  most 
helpful  of  those  books  which  have  been  written  in  recent  years  with  the 
intention  of  teaching  men  and  women  the  truths  about  their  bodies  which 
are  of  peculiar  importance  to  the  morals  of  society.  It  will  be  understood 
that  we  here  refer  to  treatises  on  sexual  physiology.  No  one  can  begin  to 
imagine  the  misery  that  has  come  upon  the  human  family  solely  through 
ignorance  upon  this  subject.  Of  course,  only  a  man  wdio  is  more  than 
learned,  who  is  wise  and  good  also,  can  safely  be  entrusted  with  the  duty  of 
writing  such  a  book.  The  spirit  in  which  Dr.  Cowan  has  written  is  ap¬ 
parently  that  of  earnest  devotion  to  the  welfare  of  mankind. 


[From  Wm.  Lloyd  Garrison ,  Boston .] 

On  a  careful  examination  of  Dr.  Cowan’s  “Science  of  a  New  Life”  I  am 
H  prepared  to  give  it  my  very  cordial  approval,  and  to  wish  that  it  might  be 
in  the  possession  of  the  two  large  classes  for  whose  guidance  and  happiness 
it  was  written,  namely,  “all  who  are  married,  and  particularly  those  who 
contemplate  marriage,”  not  excepting  those  who  do  not  intend  or  are  not 
likely  to  marry,  but  who  cannot  fail  to  be  enlightened  and  aided  by  its 
teaching.  It  deserves  to  be  in  every  family,  and  read  and  pondered,  as 
closely  relating  to  the  highest  moral  and  physical  well-being  of  all  its  mem¬ 
bers.  With  here  and  there  an  opinion  or  a  rule  that  may  be  questionable, 
it  is  nevertheless  a  volume  admirable  for  the  purity  of  its  tone  and  purpose, 
unquestionably  sound  in  its  hygienic  directions  and  physiological  aver¬ 
ments,  and  extremely  valuable  in  the  lessons  it  inculcates.  “The  people 
perish  for  lack  of  knowledge”  is  an  ancient  declaration,  almost  as  applica¬ 
ble  now  as  it  was  when  first  uttered ;  and  it  is  largely  owing  to  a  profound 
ignorance  of  the  law  of  birth  and  parentage,  and  the  laws  of  our  physical 
organization  generally,  that  “the  lusts  of  the  flesh”  have  gained  such  wide¬ 
spread  ascendancy  that  millions  of  the  human  race  are  suffering  both  bodi¬ 
ly  and  mental  depravation,  that  the  marriage  relation  has  been  so  fearfully 
violated,  and  that  licentiousness  and  foul  disease  are  inflicting  the  very 
life-blood  of  the  people.  The  essential  remedy  for  these  great  evils  is  to 
be  found  in  Dr.  Cowan’s  work;  therefore,  may  it  be  circulated  far  and  wide. 

Yours,  for  suffering  humanity,  WM.  LLOYD  GARRISON. 

[From  the  Round  Table,  New  York.  ] 

The  dedication  of  Dr.  Cowan’s  book — “To  all  the  Married,  but  particu¬ 
larly  to  those  who  contemplate  Marriage” — sufficiently  indicates  its  scope 
and  purpose.  It  is  an  earnest  plea  for  temperance  in  all  things,  for  the 
subjection  of  the  senses  to  the  spirit,  for  the  rule  of  purity  and  continence, 
especially  in  that  relation  of  life  which  most  people  seem  to  enter  only  to 
find  a  pretext  for  discarding  both.  Without  subscribing  fully  to  all  of  Doc¬ 
tor  Cowan’s  views,  which  are  marked  by  a  strictness  approaching  austerity 
it  is  impossible  not  to  admire  and  applaud  the  entire  delicacy  of  manner 
and  the  loftiness  of  aim  with  which  he  treats  a  nice  and  difficult  subject. 
In  an  age  given  over  to  sensuality,  it  is  pleasant  to  find  one  man  lifting  up 
his  voice  in  behalf  of  a  pure  morality;  and  we  are  disposed  to  condone,  if 
not  forgive,  an  error  on  the  side  of  severity.  The  chapters  entitled  “  The 
Law  of  Continence'’’ ,  '•‘■The  Prevention  of  Conception ’’  (wherein  the  author 
takes  the  true  Christian  ground  that  the  only  legitimate  prevention  is  ab¬ 
stinence)  Children — their  Desirability ,  and  Feticide ,  might  be  read  with 
especial  profit  by  that  class  of  the  community  for  whom  the  book  is  in¬ 
tended.  What  they  say  can  scarcely  be  said  to  often,  and  is  seldom  said 
at  all  outside  of  medical  text  books,  or  in  a  way  to  make  it  suitable  or  use¬ 
ful  to  the  general  reader.  Dr.  Cowan’s  views  about  the  transmission  of 
genius  and  the  determination  of  offspring  are  curious,  and  not  without  plau¬ 
sibility,  and  his  medical  principles  are  simple,  and  for  the  most  part  sound. 
Regularity,  frugality,  temperance  in  diet,  personal  cleanliness,  daily  baths, 
not  alone  of  water  but  of  sun  and  air,  a  proper  amount  of  sleep ;  and  a 
moderate  degree  of  exercise — a  strict  observance,  in  short,  of  natural  laws, 
will  insure  health  and  go  far  to  insure  happiness.  If  only  for  the  earnest¬ 
ness  with  which  it  denounces  and  condemns  the  atrocious  practice  of  ante¬ 
natal  infanticide,  or  the  scarcely  less  revolting  indecencies  of  prevention, 
the  legal  prostitution  of  all  sorts  for  which  modern  marriage  is  made  the 
flimsy  veil,  this  book  would  be  worthy  of  the  praise  of  every  pure-minded 
man  and  woman;  but  it  calls  for  even  higher  approbation  by  its  recognition 
and  emphatic  assertion  of  what  to-day  is  so  rarely  recognized  or  admitted 
— the  essential  nobleness,  purity,  and  holiness  of  the  martial  state. 


[From  James  Parton,  the  Eminent  Biographer  and  Lecturer.  ] 

Dear  Sir:  The  theme  which  you  have  treated,  in  your  work  entitled 
“The  Science  of  a  New  Life/’  is  certainly  one  of  very  great  importance. 
It  must  be  apparent  to  all  observing  persons  that  -we  need  above  all  things 
a  physical  regeneration — the  essential  preliminary  to  a  spiritual  one.  There 
are  many  things  in  your  book  that  are  new  to  me,  and  concerning  the  truth 
of  which  I  am  not  competent  to  give  an  opinion;  but  I  cannot  doubt  that 

I  its  general  purport  is  sound,  and  likely  to  be  beneficial  to  all  who  atten¬ 
tively  read  it.  I  shall  be  glad  to  hear  of  its  universal  circulation. 

Respectfully  yours,  JAMES  PARTON. 

[From  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton  L\ 

I  have  read  Dr.  Cowan’s  work,  and  made  it  my  text-book  in  lectures, 
“to  woman  alone,”  for  several  years.  As  it  is  far  easier  to  generate  a  race 
of  happy,  healthy  men  and  women  than  to  regenerate  the  disease  and  dis¬ 
cordant  humanity  we  now  have,  I  heartily  recommend  the  study  of  “The 
Science  of  a  New  Life”  to  every  mother  in  the  land. 

ELIZABETH  CADY  STANTON. 

\_Ex  tract  of  a  letter  from  Robert  Dale  Owen  to  the  A  uthor.  ] 

I  thank  you  much  for  the  brave  book  you  were  so  kind  as  to  send  me. 
The  subjects  upon  which  it  touches  are  among  the  most  important  of  any 
connected  with  Social  Science,  and  the  world  is  your  debtor  for  the  bold 
stand  you  have  taken.  Yours  sincerely, 

ROBERT  DALE  OWEN. 

\_From  the  Pastor  and  People .  Win.  M.  Cornell ,  M.  D.  LL.  D.  Editor.  ] 
The  external  and  internal  beauty  of  the  book  and  its  numerous  illustra¬ 
tions  in  such  contrast  with  the  mass  of  catchpenny  works  relating  to  simi¬ 
lar  subjects,  is  in  harmony  with  the  ideal  of  purity,  health  and  happiness, 
with  which  the  author  seeks  to  invest  the  domestic  and  conjugal  states,  and 

I  by  which  especially  to  lay  the  broad  foundation  for  the  health  and  happi¬ 
ness  of  the  children  which  may  bless  the  founders  of  the  new  home, — the 
originators  of  the  New  Life.  Without  endorsing  every  idea  or  expression 
contained  in  this  volume,  which  we  have  carefully  read,  we  are  free  to  say 
that  its  suggestions  followed  with  any  resonable  degree  of  fidelity  would 
give  health  to  many  a  wearied  wife  and  wretched  husband;  would  bring 
peace  to  many  a  disturbed  and  troubled  home,  and  confer  blessings  on  many 
children  yet  unborn.  “The  Science  of  a  New  Life”  is  no  cheap  medium 
for  the  advertisement  of  drugs,  nostrums  and  humbugs,  but  it  is  a  sensible, 
interesting  book,  containing  nothing  to  offend  the  purest  mind,  but  minis¬ 
tering  to  the  interests  of  virtue,  health  and  religion,  and  profitable  to  all 
who  may  read  it. 

[From  Dr.  Dio  Lewis ,  of  Boston ,  Author  and  Lecturer.  ] 

Dr.  Cowan — Dear  Sir:  I  have  read  your  work,  “The  Science  of  a  New 
Life.”  I  have  more  than  read  it — I  have  studied,  I  have  feasted  upon  it. 

During  the  last  twenty  years  I  have  eagerly  sought  everything  upon  this 
most  vital  .subject,  but  I  have  found  nothing  which  approaches  in  simplicity, 
delicacy,  earnestness  and  power  this  work.  On  my-  own  account,  and  in 
behalf  of  the  myriads  to  whom  your  incomparable  book  will  carry  hope  and 
life,  I  thank  you. 

For  years  I  have  been  gathering  material  for  such  a  work.  Constantly  I 
have  applications  for  the  book,  which  years  ago  I  promised  the  public. 
Now  I  shall  most  conscientiously  and  joyfully  send  them  to  you. 

I  am  most  respectfully  yours,  DIO  LEWIS. 


\_From  Rev .  Octavius  B.  Frothingham  of  Nero  York.  ] 

I  have  read  with  care  “The  Science  of  a  New  Life”.  If  a  million  of  the 
married  and  unmarried  would  do  the  same,  they  would  learn  many  things 
of  deepest  import  to  their  welfare. 

Not  that  I  am  prepared  to  give  it  my  unqualified  praise ;  hut  the  substance 
of  the  book  is  excellent,  its  purpose  high,  its  counsel  noble,  its  spirit  earnest, 
humane,  and  pure.  I  trust  it  wall  have  a  very  wide  circulation. 

Sincerely  yours,  O.  B.  FROTHINGHAM. 

\_From  the  Christian  at  Work.  ] 

This  book  is  remarkable  for  the  fund  of  physiological  information  con¬ 
tained  between  its  covers,  nowhere  else  attainable  within  so  small  a  corn- 
pass,  and  not  to  be  had  in  its  entirely  except  by  those  familiar  with  the 
French  books  on  physiology. 


\_From  Judge  J.  W.  Edmonds,  Ex -chief  Justice  of  the  Sripreme 

Court ,  N~ew  York.  ] 

I  have  read  the  work  “Science  of  a  New  Life”  by  Dr.  John  Cowan  and 
I  ought  not  to  withhold  from  you  the  expression  of  my  approbation  of  it. 
I  would  have  given  a  good  deal  for  the  knowledge  it  contains  in  my  boy 
days — some  60  years  ago,  and  I  rejoice  greatly  that  it  has  at  length  been 
put  in  a  form  to  be  accessible  to  all.  Not  being  a  physician  I  do  not  feel 
myself  competent  to  express  an  opinion  as  to  the  manner  in  which  the  work 
has  been  done.  It  has  however  been  so  well  done,  that  I  easily  understand 
it  and  two  educated  intelligent  married  woman,  who  have  read  it,  say  to 
me,  on  returning  it  “it  is  in  many  respects  most  excellent  and  the  tendency 
is  to  elevate.”  J.  W.  EDMONDS. 


\_Erom  the  Index,  Francis  E.  Abbot ,  Editor.  ] 

Dr.  John  Cowan’s  “Science  of  a  New  Life”  is  a  work  devoted  to  all  that 
relates  to  marriage  and  written  in  a  style  and  spirit  that  command  our  un¬ 
qualified  approbation.  It  is  plain,  direct,  and  practical — yet  permeated  with 
so  deep  a  reverence  for  the  marriage  relation,  and  so  utter  an  abhorrence 
of  what  we  are  ashamed  to  call  fashionable  abominations,  that  pruriency 
will  be  rebuked,  and  the  love  of  purity  heightened  by  its  perusal.  There 
can  be  no  question  that  physiological  knowledge  of  this  character  is  sorely 
needed  by  thousands  and  thousands  of  people,  whose  innocent  offspring 
must  pay  the  penalty  of  their  parents’  ignorance  or  vice.  To  those  who 
would  put  a  really  unexceptionable  book  on  these  subjects  in  the  hands  of 
young  persons  approaching  maturity,  we  can  conscientiously  recommend 
this  as  one  that  will  enlighten  without  debasing. 

\_From  the  Pittsburg  Dispatch.'] 

This  is  the  title  of  a  volume  just  issued  from  the  press,  the  author  being 
Dr.  John  Cowan  an  eminent  physician,  and  who,  judging  from  the  tone  of 
his  book,  must  likewise  be  a  true  Christian  philanthrophist.  *It  takes  up 
the  theory  that  if  ever  the  reformation  of  the  world  is  to  be  accomplished, 
it  can  only  come  through  the  medium  of  rightly  directed  observance  ot 
ante-natal  laws.  Dr.  Cowan  holds  to  this  belief  firmly  and  supports  it  by 
illustrations  and  arguments  whose  force  will  appeal  to  every  intelligent 
reader.  *  *  *  *  Desire  for  physiological  knowledge  is  daily  spreading  and 
when  taught  through  such  an  excellent  and  correct  medium  as  this,  its  re¬ 
sults  cannot  be  other  than  valuable. 


4 


{From  Moore's  Rural  New  Yorker.  ] 

“If  ever  the  reformation  of  the  world  is  to  be  accomplished — if  ever  the 
millenium  of  purity,  chastity,  and  intense  happiness  reaches  this  earth,  it 
can  only  do  so  through  rightly-directed  pre-natal  laws.”  Such  is  the  sen¬ 
timent  upon  which  this  book  is  built  up — a  sentiment  not  admirably  ex¬ 
pressed,  but  admirable  in  its  meaning.  To  a  correct  understanding  of  the 
laws  pre-natal  and  post-natal,  as  also  to  a  more  thorough  comprehension 
of  what  marriage  should  be,  and  what  it  should  accomplish  for  mutual  hap¬ 
piness,  these  four  hundred  and  five  octavo  pages  by  Dr.  Cowan  must  great¬ 
ly  conduce.  They  are  devoted  to  topics  concerning  which  no  person  ar¬ 
rived  at  years  of  thoughtfulness  should  be  ignorant.  They  treat  of  these 
topics  in  a  plain,  sensible  manner,  in  language  that  none  but  a  prude  can 
object  to,  and  are  apparently  written  in  no  spirit  of  quackery,  but  for  a 
worthy  purpose.  Could  the  book  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  every  young 
person  contemplating  matrimony,  it  would  assuredly  do  much  good. 

{From  the  Albany  Ary  us.  ] 

This  excellent  work  is  so  superior  in  style  and  matter  to  the  numerous 
worthless  books,  with  which  the  country  is  flooded  that  we  are  not  willing 
to  let  it  pass  without  commending  it  to  the  thoughtful  consideration  of  our 
readers.  Treating  of  those  important  topics  that  refer  to  the  health  and 
purity  of  mind  and  body,  ignorance  of  which,  at  this  enlightened  day,  is 
inexcusable;  in  a  manner,  earnest  and  forcible,  but  chaste  and  elegant,  it  is 
a  reliable  hygenic  and  moral  guide.  Parents  often  make  a  terrible  mistake, 
in  not  speaking  freely  to  their  children  of  physiological  laws,  and  of  the 
social  and  moral  evils,  that  may  beset  them  in  life,  and  too  frequently  they 
acquire  dangerous  information  and  fatal  habits  from  corrupt  associations. 
On  all  the  subjects  in  which  men  and  women  are  most  deeply  interested 
this  book  is  a  sound  teacher,  and  to  married  persons  its  lessons  are  invalu¬ 
able. 


{From  the  Christian  Advocate ,  New  York.  ] 

It  is  a  difficult  as  well  as  a  delicate  task  to  discuss  in  a  proper  manner  the 
subject  of  reproduction  of  a  new  human  life.  This  the  author  of  this  work 
has  undertaken,  going  into  details  of  facts  and  philosophy,  with  constantly 
applied  suggestions  of  a  physiological,  sanitary  and  moral  character.  The 
method  and  execution  of  the  work  are  quite  unexceptionable,  and  many  ot 
its  practical  suggestions  are  certainly  valuable. 

{From  the- Hartford  Courant.~\ 

This  work  is  very  different  from  the  works  that  are  usually  published  on 
this  subject.  It  is  a  plain  but  chaste  book,  dealing  with  the  physical  pro¬ 
blems  which  most  concern  all  human  beings  in  the  spirit  of  science  and 
humanity.  What  we  all,  as  society,  need  is  a  better  understanding  of  phy¬ 
siology  and  the  laws  of  health,  so  that  men  and  women,  knowing  these  laws 
and  their  own  constitutions,  can  live  properly,  in  such  physical  estate  as 
shall  produce  the  best  mental  state.  This  book  is  a  very  valuable  contri¬ 
bution  to  that  end.  There  is  a  lamentable  ignorance  and  shame-facedness 
about  some  of  the  most  important  offices  of  life.  We  have  no  doubt  that 
with  the  dissipation  of  this  ignorance  there  will  be  a  truer  modesty,  less 
disease  and  a  happier  and  purer  society. 


{From  The  Sunday  Dispatch ,  Philadelphia ,  Pa.  ] 

This  work  is  one  of  the  best  of  its  kind  that  has  been  issued  from  the 
press  during  many  years. 


[From  the  Methodist  Home  Journal ,  Philadelphia ,  Pa.  ] 

This  work  is  a  clear,  comprehensive,  and  yet  concise  treatment  of  laws 
which  regulate  human  life,  as  well  as  those  which  pertain  to  the  married 
relation.  It  is  an  evidently  candid  attempt  to  popularize  information  on  one 
of  the  most  important  subjects  which  come  within  the  range  of  human 
thought.  The  book  is  worthy  an  extended  sale. 

[From  the  Rochester  Democrat  and  Chronicle .] 

We  can  conscientiously  commend  “The  Science  of  a  New  Life”  to  all 
married  persons  and  those  contemplating  marriage,  for  whom  it  is  designed. 
Its  purpose  is  to  thoroughly  acquaint  the  people  with  the  laws,  that  most 
intimately  effect  their  being,  in  such  a  way  as  to  promote  chastity  and  a 
pure  life.  If  husbands  will  heed  it  wives  will  bless  them.  Plainness  of 
speech  is  used ;  but  the  requirements  of  delicacy,  nevertheless,  are  strictly 
followed.  We  are  quite  sure  the  work  will  meet  the  approval  of  the  medi¬ 
cal  profession.  There  is  no  question  upon  which  there  is  more  ignorance; 
none  on  which  we  need  more  thorough  knowledge.  Ajid  of  all  the  abuses 
of  men,  there  are  none  more  disasterous  than  those  which  this  healthy  vol¬ 
ume  seeks  to  correct. 


[From  the  Woman's  Advocate.'] 

The  title  of  this  work  suggests  the  idea  of  another  life  on  this  earth- 
plane  of  existence — higher,  holier,  and  purer  in  its  aims,  aspirations,  and 
desires,  and  yet  it  does  not  suggest,  or  even  intimate,  to  the  prospective 
reader  the  true  character  and  nature  of  the  volume  in  its  mission  before 
the  world.  To  the  actual  reader  the  title  is  truly  significant  and  appropri¬ 
ate — as  the  writer  so  beautifully  unfolds  the  Laws  of  Reproduction,  by  and 
through  the  observance  of  which  the  highest  and  purest  type  of  humanity 
may  be  and  is  produced.  The  regeneration  of  the  race,  through  the  laws 
of  physiological  and  psychological  reproduction,  is  the  leading  and  perhaps 
the  grandest  thought  of  Dr.  Cowan’s  work.  If  in  the  reproduction  ot 
offspring,  all  parents  would  faithfully  and  persistently  observe  the  laws  so 
fully  elucidated  by  Dr.  Cowan  in  his  chapter  on  “  The  Land  of  Genius” 
the  aggregate  virtue,  mentality  developed  in  four  generations  would  for¬ 
ever  redeem  the  world  from  the  lost  blight  and  curse  of  sin.  If  it  were 
within  our  power,  we  would  put  a  copy  of  Dr.  Cowan’s  work  into  every 
household  of  the  nation  fully  confident  that  the  truth  therein  contained 
would  do  more  towards  regenerating  the  race  than  all  the  pulpits  of  the 
land  are  doing- while  the  masses  are  groping  in  heathenish  darkless  and 
ignorance  of  the  Laws  of  Re-production,  by  and  through  which  human 
beings  are  or  may  be  created  spirits  of  light  or  spirits  of  darkness,  at 
the  bidding  of  the  human  will.  This  work  is  written  in  pure,  chaste 
language,  free  from  all  medical  technicalities.  Of  all  the  works  extant 
on  “Re-production”  or  the  “Social  Question”  now  agitating  the  public 
mind,  we  cheerfully  concede  to  it  the  preference. 

[From  The  Ladies  Own  Magazine.] 

This  is  a  scientific  work  in  the  true  sense.  Science  being  defined  to  be 
an  aggregation  of  truths  and  facts  properly  related  to  each  other  from 
which  valuable  deductions  may  be  drawn.  Dr.  Cowan  is  a  reformer  of  the 
radical  type,  who  believes  in  going  to  the  root  of  an  evil  and  correcting  it 
there,  and  we  can  truly  say  he  goes  to  the  root  of  the  social  and  physical 
evils  now  so  deeply  afflicting  society.  Having  no  faith  in  negative  virtue, 
or  ignorant  innocence,  he  adopts  for  his  motto  “knowledge  must  precede 
virtue”.  We  commend  this  work  to  the  careful  perusal  of  the  earnest  and 
thoughtful  of  both  sexes. 


6 


\_From  the  Scientific  Press ,  San  Francisco.  ] 

It  is,  in  our  opinion,  a  mistaken  idea  on  the  part  of  parents  and  others  to 
allow  children  to  acquire  the  knowledge  of  the  sexual  relations  from  chance 
sources,  for  these  sources  are  always  impure.  The  sexual  instinct  is  im¬ 
planted  in  everybody,  and  makes  itself  known  as  surely  as  the  body  ripens. 
And  as  imagination  forms  a  very  large  portion  of  life,  we  think  it  far  better 
to  have  the  subjects  treated  of  plainly  and  publicly  rather  than  to  have 
them  restrained  to  secret  companions  and  to  the  debased  imagination. 
We,  therefore,  welcome  such  a  book  as  this,  as  one  greatly  needed.  The 
chapter  on  “The  Law  of  Continence”,  “The  Prevention  of  Conception” 
and  “Foeticide”  are  especially  profitable  for  reading  at  the  present  time. 

\_From  The  Banner  of  Light ,  Boston.  ] 

We  welcome  a  publication  of  this  sort  with  undisguised  sincerity,  thank¬ 
ful  that  the  time  at  last  has  come  when  fundamental  and  radical  physiolo¬ 
gical  truths  may  be  told  to  the  people  plainly.  Had  such  books  been  placed 
in  the  hands  of  our  younger  men  two  and  three  generations  ago,  their 
effect  would  have  been  visible  enough  in  the  physical  character  and  habits 
of  the  men  of  to-day.  All  the  miseries  and  happiness  of  married  life  are 
sketched  with  the  hand  of  one  who  is  perfectly  familiar  with  his  theme, 
and  a  master.  Could  men,  and  women,  too,  become  familiar  with  such 
plain  and  controlling  truths  as  Dr.  Cowan  here  sets  forth  with  such  relig¬ 
ious  seriousness,  and  form  the  resolutions  forthwith  to  lead  such  lives  as 
the  following  of  his  simple  precepts  would  render  essential,  there  would,  in 
time,  be  a  visible  diminution  of  a  large  part  of  the  unhappiness,  unquiet, 
aimlessness  and  positive  misery  that  afflict  society,  and  a  brightening  and 
looking  up  of  faculties  now  clouded  and  buried  in  the  thick  folds  of  a  need¬ 
less  ignorance.  The  great  specific  for  health  and  happiness  is  Continence. 
No  one  ever  suffered  from  that,  while  the  ranks  of  the  wretched,  from  its 
opposite,  are  being  continually  recruited  from  all  classes  of  society  alike. 

I  From  a  young  Minister  in  Pa.  ] 

I  never  can  tell  how  thankful  I  am  that  God  put  it  in  my  way  in  the 
morning  of  life.  I  never  had  seen  the  standards  of  purity  lifted  so  high 
before,  but  my  heart  responded  to  them  the  first  time  I  read  them.  I  said 
this  is  the  truth  and  though  I  have  never  seen  or  heard  it  before,  by  that 
will  I  require  my  life. 

[ From  the  New  York  Albion.~\ 

“The  Science  of  a  New  Life”  by  John  Cowan,  M.  D.,  is  a  hygienic  and 
social  guide  which  many  men,  whether  married  or  single,  will  be  the  better 
for  carefully  perusing.  *  *  *  It  is  written  in  a  scientific  spirit  by  one  who 
is  evidendly  capable  of  giving  good  advice.  It  is  not  strictly  speaking  a  me¬ 
dical  work,  although  it  treats  of  the  science  of  the  human  body  and  deals  to 
a  considerable  extent  with  matters  that  fall  within  the  province  of  the  phy¬ 
sician.  But  it  gives  rules  for  the  practice  of  good  and  health  promoting 
habits  which  may  be  read  with  profit,  especially  by  young  men.  It  has 
much  to  say  about  the  married  state  and  the  choice  of  husbands  and  wives, 
with  a  view  to  the  welfare  of  their  children,  but  it  discusses  these  and 
kindred  subjects  in  a  refined  and  Christian  spirit,  and  with  much  good 
sense.  It  devotes  a  large  space  to  matters  more  or  less  physiological  in 
their  character,  and  in  so  doing  treads  upon  somewhat  delicate  ground; 
yet  we  have  failed  to  detect  anything  which  might  be  regarded  as  inad¬ 
missible  in  a  book  intended  for  the  instruction  and  to  promote  the  well¬ 
being  of  those  into  whose  hands  it  may  fall. 


7 


[From  the  Albany  Evening  Journal .] 

The  title  of  this  book  does  not  clearly  indicate  the  matter  of  which  it 
treats,  and  yet  its  appropriateness  is  seen  as  soon  as  the  reader  comprehends 
the  Authors  high  purpose.  The  book  relates  to  the  fundamental  laws  regu¬ 
lating  intercourse  between  the  sexes.  The  mass  of  such  books  are  disgust¬ 
ing  catchpennies,  cheaply  printed,  and,  if  not  directly  obscene,  are  without 
any  higher  purpose  on  the  part  of  the  writers  than  to  minister  profitably  to 
a  depraved  curiosity.  Of  Dr.  Cowan  we  do  not  know  except  what  insight 
his  book  gives  us.  It  is  evidently  written  for  a  conscientious  purpose — 
that  of  doing  good.  The  subject  is  one  of  extraordinary  delicacy,  but 
there  is  no  Lack  of  courage  in  meeting  it,  and  no  want  of  that  refinement 
of  language  which  alone  can  commend  such  a  work  to  the  good  and  the 
virtuous.  As  an  aid  in  imparting  knowledge  on  various  delicate  subjects 
and  in  exposing  the  evils  connected  with  the  abuse  of  the  system,  we  can 
earnestly  commend  this  book.  Those  who  sin  through  ignorance  will  be 
enlightened;  those  who  wish  to  be  purer,  and  can  be  influenced  by  a  high 
minded  appeal,  will  be  strengthened ;  and  neither  the  impure  nor  the  in¬ 
nocent  will  be  made  the  worse  by  it.  The  influence  of  Christianity  is  re¬ 
cognized  and  made  the  basis  for  the  reform  advocated.  The  general  sub¬ 
ject  is  one  of  such  immense  importance  that  any  books  which  conscien¬ 
tiously  supplies  information  without  minisering  to  depi-aved  passions  should  j 
be  welcomed.  There  can  be  no  indelicacy  in  popularizing  the  knowledge 
of  evils  into  which  tens  of  thousands  rush  blindly,  and  in  making'men 
and  women  acquainted  with  the  responsibilities  they  assume  and  the  dan¬ 
gers  they  incure  w'hen  they  enter  into  the  marriage  relation. 

[From  the  Utica  Herald  and  Gazette.  ] 

This  work  is  a  treatise  on  matters  relating  mainly  to  the  physical  welfare 
of  the  race.  It  is  a  timely  warning  against  the  many  evils  which  arise 
from  an  abuse  or  ignorance  of  the  laws  which  govern  the  relation  of  the 
sexes.  As  such  it  is  a  medical  book.  It  rises,  however,  above  the  mere 
details  of  anatomy  and  discusses  conscientiously  the  effects  which  are  in 
various  ways  produced  upon  the  character  and  life.  It  is  outspoken  against 
that  sensousness  which  is  to  often  made  to  crush  out  the  higher  thoughts 
and  aims  which  should  characterise  the  life  union.  The  matters  which  fill 
its  chapters  are  to  little  understood  by  those  who  should  knowT  them  well. 
There  has  been  no  lack  of  quack  publications  called  marriage  guides,  but 
a  plain,  truthful  treaties,  from  one  whose  name  is  a  surety  of  value,  has  a 
good  work  to  perform.  Such  a  book  is  the  publication  before  us.  A  por¬ 
tion  of  its  pages  is  devoted  to  a  denunciation  of  the  apparently  increasing 
crime  of  child-murder.  As  a  source  of  information  upon  matters  of  vital 
importance  to  the  classes  for  whom  it  is  intended  Dr.  Cowan’s  treaties  can 
hardly  fail  to  be  of  great  value  and  utility. 

[From  the  Scottish  American,  JV.  Y.  ] 

Books  of  this  character  can  not  be  multiplied  too  rapidly,  nor  can  the 
influence  of  such  wrnrks  as  this,  in  releasing  men  and  women  from  the 
strong  bonds  of  ignorance,  vice,  and  crime,  be  too  highly  estimated.  The 
human  race,  we  know,  needs  something  stronger  and  more  powerful  than 
the  influence  of  a  single  volume,  however  good,  to  remove  the  many  evils 
of  social  and  domestic  life — line  upon  line,  precept  upon  precept — a  little 
here,  and  a  great  deal  more  there,  can  alone  accomplish  the  great  work  o 
reformation,  and  restore  the  wasted,  sin-polluted  lives  of  our  fellow-beings 
to  a  condition  of  moral  purity;  but  we  must  admit  that  Dr.  Cowan  has 
done  all  that  any  lover  of  his  race  can  do  to  check  the  downward  course 
of  the  ignorance,  thoughtless,  and  sinful. 


8 


[From  a  Wife  and  Mother.  ] 

*  *  *  I  can  spend  my  time  in  no  better  way  than  canvassing  for  such  a 
book.  I  have  a  copy  of  it — have  read  and  re-read  it.  O  if  I  had  only  had 
it  two  years  earlier,  the  tears  it  might  have  saved  me.  Would  that  I  could 
be  an  aid  to  put  it  into  the  hands  of  every  man  and  woman  in  the  land. 
God  will  certainly  bless  you  in  your  earnest  endeavours  to  rescue  mankind 
from  the  depths  of  the  darkness  into  which  they  have  been  plunged. 

[ From  various  Readers.  ] 

Your  book  is  received.  I  am  well  satisfied  with  it,  and  think  it  will  be 
found  a  great  aid  in  the  inculcation  of  a  higher  tone  of  Christian  morality. 

W..  J.  CURRIE  A.  M.,  M.  D. 

The  chapter  on  “The  Law  of  Continence”  is  more  than  worth  the  price 
of  the  book  to  every  earnest  man  and  woman.  I  never  saw  the  truth  printed 
on  that  subject  before.  You  may  have  to  wait  long  ere  the  world  will  acknow¬ 
ledge  it,  but  Angels  will  bless  you  if  man  does  not. 

ANNIE  J.  DEERING,  M.  D. 

I  admire  its  direct,  pointed  and  yet  delicate  method  of  discussion,  its 
high  moral  tone,  its  evident  purpose  to  do  good,  and  I  hope  it  will  have  a 
wide  circulation.  J.  TENNY,  Sup’t  of  Schools. 

While  recently  over  in  Oregon  I  providentially  saw  for  the  first  time  a 
copy  of  your  valuable,  because  much  needed  work  “The  Science  of  a  New 
Life”  I  had  not  read  an  hour  in  it  until  satisfied  it  was  the  book  of  all  others 
this  generation  most  needed.  For  thirty  years  I  have  seen  a  need  for  this 
work  and  have  hoped  some  one  of  sufficient  information,  standing,  and 
talertt  would  produce  it.  I  have  purchased  and  read  the  copy  alluded  to, 
and  find  it  more  than  meets  my  highest  expectation  of  moral  and  scientific 
worth  *  *  *  *  Wishing  to  be  as  useful  to  my  fellow  creatures  as  possible, 
I  have  resolved  to  write  out  a  few  lectures  from  it,  and  deliver  them  to  the 
public  as  I  travel  through  this  territory.  Of  course  I  will  give  you  credit 
for  the  subject  matter  and  recommend  the  work.  J.  F.  R - . 

(For  30  years  a  minister  and  20  years  a  physician.) 

There  is  no  work  extant  that  I  think  calculated  to  do  the  good  that  your 
work  will.  STEPHENSON  ORGAN,  ,M.  D. 

.  opinion  of  the  book  is— the  world  wants  it,  the  present  state  of  huma¬ 
nity  demands  it.  Nor  can  the  physical  and  moral  condition  of  the  world  be 
improved  until  humanity  feels  their  need  for  this  book.  J.  W _ . 

(An  agent  who  has  sold  over  1000  copies  of  the  work.) 

*  *  *  *  I  immediately  procured  a  copy  from  your  agent  Mr.  E— ,  which 
I  have  carefully  studied  with  increasing  interest  and  now  unhesitatingly 
pronounce  it  the  work  of  the  age,  deserving  to  be  handed  down  to  all  gener¬ 
ations  along  with  the  bible,  as  one  of  its  most  powerful  auxiliaries  in  purg- 
ing  them  of  sin  and  uncleanliness.  N.  C _ 

lam  impressed  with  the  earnestness  of  its  purpose  and  the  great  value 
ot  many  of  its  suggestions.  GEO.  L.  CARY, 

(Prof,  in  Meadville  Theo.  School.) 

 9 


1 


[From  the  Farmer ,  Bridgeport,  Conn.  ] 

Upon  no  topics  connected  with  our  physical  well-being  does  so  much  ig¬ 
norance  prevail,  and  consequent  abuse  or  wrong-doing,  as  upon  those 
so  fully  treated  of  in  this  book.  The  poet  has  told  us  that  “the  proper 
study  of  mankind  is  man.  He  might  have  put  it  in  stronger  terms  and 
truly  said  that  the  most  bnportant  study  of  mankind  is  man.  But  a  false 
modesty  has  forbidden  and  prevented  the  discussion  of  the  topics  referred 
to,  so  intimately  connected  with  the  best  interests  of  society,  and  the  result 
has  been  an  accumulation  of  moral  evil,  wickedness  and  crime,  which  no 
amount  of  effort  seems  now  adequate  to  remove.  1  he  author  of  this  book 
however  has  ventured  to  undertake  the  work  of  reform,  and  make  a  be¬ 
ginning  on  the  subject  with  a  manly  frankness  and  religious  earnestness 
befitting  its  great  importance.  He  has  no  faith  in  negative  virtue,  or 
ignorant  obediance,  and  adopting  the  motto:  “knowledge  must  precede 
virtue, ”  he  fully  discloses  the  relations  of  the  sexes  and  plainly  lays  down 
the  rules  upon  which  physical  redemption  must  be  archieved,  and  the  great 
social  and  moral  evils  referred  to  remedied.  The  book  should  have  a  wide 
circulation.  The  author  has  dedicated  it  to  “all  the  married,  and  particu¬ 
larly  those  who  contemplate  marriage.”  He  should  have  dedicated  it  to 
“all  the  world,  and  the  rest  of  mankind,”  for  its  expositions  and  teachings 
are  important  not  only  to  the  married  and  those  who  contemplate  marriage, 
but  to  all,  both  of  high  degree  and  low  degree,  civilized  or  savage.”  Its 
study  cannot  fail  to  give  such  a  knowledge  of  the  human  system  and 
physiological  laws  as  will  promote  the  health  and  purity  of  both  body 
and  mind. 


[ From  one  of  the  World's  Workers.~\ 

I  sincerly  believe  if  “The  Science  of  a  New  Life”  whenever  read  by  an 
intelligent  individual,  it  will  do  him  or  her  more  good  than  the  getting  of 
Religion  in  the  popular  way.  My  heart  is  full  of  thanks  for  its  author. 
Ever  since  I  was  a  young  man,  I  have  taken  much  interest  in  reading  books 
of  like  contents,  but  I  never  found  a  work  that  went  in  such  good  earnest 
to  the  bottom  of  the  subject  of  Human  Reform.  I  verily  believe  that  any 
agent  who  will  sell  1000  copies  of  “The  Science  of  a  New  Life”  will  be 
the  means  of  accomplishing  more  positive  and  lasting  good  than  any  fash¬ 
ionable  preacher  will  accomplish  in  forty  years  of  his  ministerial  service, 
for  the  kind  of  preaching  that  is  now  mostly  needed,  is  that  which  teaches 
and  enlightens  people  on  the  subject  of  generation,  securing  to  posterity 
a  sound  virtuous  and  intelligent  generation,  and  where  this  is  accomplished 
there  will  be  less  need  to  talk  of  Re-generation. 

[From  the  Syracuse  Courier.  ] 

The  Science  of  a  New  Life  is  the  title  of  a  new  and  valuable  treatise  by 
Dr.  John  Cowan,  on  all  that  pertains  to  marriage.  The  author  is  masterly 
and  exhaustive  in  his  treatment  of  topics  so  vitally  connected  with  the 
Christian  perfection  and  perpetuity  of  the  race;  and  while  his  language  is 
plain,  it  is  never  suggestively  impure  or  unchaste.  The  book  will  educate 
in  a  direction  where  it  is  greatly  needed. 

[From  The  American  Wesleyan.~\ 

There  is  a  growing  desire  for  knowledge  in  regard  to  the  wonderful 
phenomenon  of  human  life.  Dr.  Cowan  writes  not  to  gratify  an  idle  or 
prurient  curiosity,  but  to  give  knowledge,  which  will  lead  to  obedience, 
virtue  and  happiness.  The  book  is  for  the  thoughtful  and  earnest  reader, 
and  no  such  reader  will  rise  from  its  perusal  without  a  conscious  elevation 
of  thought,  and  a  stronger  desire  to  live  a  pure  and  worthy  life. 


io 


[From  The  Cleveland  Co7H77iercial  Review .  ] 

Works  of  this  character  conform  to  the  prevailing  progressive  spirit  and 
are  the  vital  necessities  of  the  age.  Their  province  is  broad  and  eminently 
useful,  and  they  command  the  hearty  support  of  all  who  take  an  interest  in 
civilization  and  the  dissemination  of  knowledge  conducive  to  the  well  being 
of  individuals  and  society.  The  author  is  evidently  a  close  observer  and 
brings  to  bear  on  his  subject  an  abundance  of  knowledge  acquired  from  long 
experience  and  diligent  research.  He  treats  the  subject  in  an  intelligent, 
comprehensive,  and  philosophical  manner,  manifesting  a  thorough  famil¬ 
iarity  with  all  its  details,  and,  while  from  the  nature  of  the  subject  he  is  of 
necessity  plain,  and  direct  in  his  expression,  the  distinguishing  characteris¬ 
tic  of  the  work  is  its  morality. 

[From  the  Rev.  N.  E.  Boyd.  ] 

The  noble  standards — the  ideals  of  marriage  and  parentage  held  up  to  the 
reader  of  “The  Science  of  a  New  Life”  win  increasing  admiration  as  I  per¬ 
use  the  work  afresh.  For  me,  I  shall  always  feel  grateful  that  God  put  it 
into  your  heart  to  write  the  book  and  that  you  obeyed  his  divine  call.  And 
that  it  fell  in  my  way  to  read  it  too.  NICHOLAS  E.  BOYD. 

[From  the  Lowell  Daily  Courier.~\ 

This  is  the  only  book  of  the  character  we  have  ever  seen  which  seem  to 
be  imbued  with  a  conscientious  spirit  from  beginning  to  end.  Hundreds 
of  books  on  love,  marriage,  and  the  relations  of  the  sexes,  have  been 
written  to  sell.  Many  of  them  have  done  infinite  harm,  instead  of  reme¬ 
dying  the  evils  they  pretended  to  combat ;  but  nobody  can  practice  on  the 
principles  laid  down  by  Dr.  Cowan  without  being  better  and  wiser. 


EB 


II 


PUBLISHERS  SUGGESTIONS. 


We  are  in  want  of  more  agents  in  places  yet  uncanvassed,  or  only  partially 
canvassed,  to  help  circulate  this  book,  and  perhaps  YOU  can  aid  us  in  this 
direction.  Among  your  immediate  friends  and  neighbors,  you  might,  with 
but  little  effort,  succeed  in  taking  orders  for  fifteen,  twenty  five,  or  fifty 
copies,  and  so  not  only  do  good,  but  get  well  paid  for  it.  Or,  if  you  are  not 
in  a  position  to  take  a  regular  agency,  you  may,  without  much  labor  make 
up  a  club  among  your  friends  for  five,  ten  or  fifteen  books  and  so  secure 
copies  at  club  rates.  Our  circular  with  “club  rates”  will  be  mailed  on 
application.  Our  “Agents  Confidential  Circulars’7  are  mailed  only  to  those 
who  desire  to  make  a  business  of  canvassing  for  the  book.  In  no  instance 
is  a  single  copy  of  the  book  sold  for  less  than  the  retail  price.  We  mention 
this,  because  many  send  for  our  confidential  circulars,  with  the  purpose  of 
getting  a  copy  at  agents  prices.  The  agent  himself  has  to  pay  full  price  for 
the  first  copy  besides  an  additional  sum  for  the  “outfit.”  Again,  it  is 
useless  asking  for  “The  Science  of  a  New  Life”  at  the  bookstores,  because 
it  is  sold  only  by  our  duly  authorised  agents,  and  by  the  publishers  to  whom 
address  for  further  particulars  in  regard  to  agency  or  club  rates.  No  man 
or  woman  can  do  better  missionary  work  than  by  helping  to  circulate 
this  book. 


A  FURTHER  SUGGESTION. 

We  do  not  advocate  the  loaning  and  borrowing  of  books,  yet  you  can  do 
much  good  by  allowing  a  neighbor,  relative  or  friend  who  may  not  be  in 
a  position  to  purchase  a  copy,  the  privilege  of  reading  and  studying  the  in¬ 
formation  contained  in  “The  Science  of  a  New  Life.”  The  wear  and  tear, 
and  annoyance  sometimes  incidental  to  loaning  will  be  vastly  overshadowed 
by  the  possible  great  good  that  may  come  of  reading  it.  After  you  have 
read  the  book  tell  your  friends  of  it,  and  if  you  cannot  prevail  on  their 
purchasing  a  copy,  loan  them  yours.  Especially  should  you  do  this,  if  your 
thoughts  and  desires  are  in  harmony  with  the  suggestions  and  principles 
therein  advanced. 


What  God,  in  the  might  of  His  wisdom  and  the  greatness 
of  His  love,  has  created,  no  man  or  woman  need  be 
ashamed  to  read,  talk  of,  learn  and  know ; 


THE 


SCIENCE 


THE  IIBRAHT 

OF  HIE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  IUIKOI* 


OF 


A  NEW  LIFE 


By  JOHN  COWAN,  M.D. 


"Knowledge  must  precede  virtue,  for  no  Chance  act  can  be  a  moral  one.  We  must 

know  in  order  to  x>o.” 


NEW  YORK 

COWAN  &  COMPANY,  PUBLISHERS 

No.  139  Eighth  Street 

1874 


The  reformation  of  the  world  can  never  be  accomplished, — 
the  millcnium  of  parity ,  chastity  and  intense  happiness  can 
never  reach  this  earth ,  except  through  cheerful  obedie7ice  to 
pre-natal  laws. — Page  137. 


- -mr—  ^ 

Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1869,  by 
John  Cowan,  in  the  Clerk’s  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  Southern  District 

of  New  York. 

1 

fe. _ ^ _ & 


' 


t? 

1 


9 

Z 


life 
C%  3s 

i*7f 


TO 


ALL  THE  MARRIED, 

BUT  PARTICULARLY  TO 

THOSE  WHO  CONTEMPLATE  MARRIAGE, 


THIS  BOOK 


IS  MOST  RESPECTFULLY  AND  LOVINGLY  DEDICATED. 


r 


t 

in 


'795:180 


PREFACE. 


INCE  the  creation  of  man,  there 
has  been  no  subject  that  so  im¬ 
mediately  concerns  the  life  and 
happiness  of  the  individual,  the 
love  and  harmony  of  friends,  and 
the  stability  and  prosperity  of 
states  and  kingdoms,  as  does  that 
of  the  reproduction  of  the  best, 
most  beautiful  and  original  forms 
of  humanity  for  this  world  and 
the  next.  To  this  end  have  I 
recorded  in  these  pages,  in  a  plain,  essentially  practical,  and 
thoroughly  systematic  way,  my  thoughts  as  to  how  this  great 
desideratum  can  be  reached  by  all  classes — high  and  low,  rich 
and  poor. 

Beginning  with  the  requirements  necessary  to  a  perfect 
union  of  the  man  and  woman ;  the  importance  involved  in 
the  right  use  of  the  social  faculties ;  the  glorious  and  perfect 
manhood  that  comes  of  a  chaste  and  continent  life  ;  the  pos¬ 
itive  and  immense  influence  of  the  mother  in  the  health, 
character,  capabilities  and  beauty  of  the  new  life,  and  the 
preparations  necessary  to  this  end,  a  child  is  born — a  child 
that,  if  originated  under  the  conditions  herein  enjoined,  must 
embody  perfection  of  body,  brightness  of  intellect,  and  pu¬ 
rity  of  soul.  In  proportion  as  these  principles  are  observed, 


10 


PREFA  CE. 


just  in  that  proportion  will  this  earth  be  freed  from  sin,  and 
unalloyed  happiness  secured;  and  in  no  other  way,  that  I 
know  of,  can  it  be  done  so  promptly  and  effectually. 

In  the  last  part  will  be  found  that  which  goes  to  make  up 
the  shadows  of  life,  and  the  mode  to  be  pursued  to  catch  a 
glimpse  of  the  bright  side — the  silver  lining  of  the  cloud. 

And  in  the  last  chapter  of  all  will  be  found  hints  and  sug¬ 
gestions  as  how  to  bring  within  the  bounds  of  love  those 
who  are  “matched  but  not  mated.” 

In  the  inscribing  of  the  subject-matter  in  these  pages,  not 
a  word  has  been  employed  that  would  offend  the  sense  of  the 
most  pure  in  thought,  let  alone  those  who  may  possess  the 
quality  termed  “  mock”  modesty. 

Out  of  the  fullness  of  an  observing,  earnest,  truthful  nature 
have  come  the  words  of  instruction,  of  advice,  and  of  warn¬ 
ing  that  go  to  make  up  the  pleasant  and  inviting  pages  of 
this  book — words  that  apply  to  and  concern  every  boy  and 
girl,  man  and  woman — married  or  single — who  believes  in  a 
God  and  a  life  beyond  the  grave. 

Without  doubt,  there  are  errors  of  omission  and  commis¬ 
sion  ;  yet  I  cannot  believe  that  any  person,  who  exercises  the 
unselfish  and  impartial  of  his  or  her  nature,  can  possibly 
read  and  reflect  on  its  contents  without  being  impressed,  in 
a  greater  or  smaller  measure,  with  the  requirements  so  neces¬ 
sary  in  all  that  goes  to  constitute  life  as  God  first  planned  it 

4 

John  Cowan.  . 


X 


Preface,  . , . 9 — 

Introduction,  .  . . — 22 


Part  First 

1 

CHAPTER  I. — Marriage  and  its  Advantages. 

Men  who  are  tinmarried - Reasons  advanced  for  remaining  single - Marriage  a  natural  con¬ 
dition  of  adult  life - The  great  desires  and  aims  of  life,  how  only  to  be  secured  through 

marriage - Objects  in  Marrying - False  objects - How  mistakes  are  made  in  choos¬ 
ing - Should  those  afflicted  with  consumption  and  other  diseases  marry  ? - The  great 

wrong  done  in  this  direction - The  true  and  only  objects  in  marrying,  .  .  25 — 29 

CHAPTER  II. — Age  at  which  to  Marry. 

How  determined - Puberty,  how  accelerated,  how  retarded - The  error  in  fixing  the  popular 

age  for  marriage - The  true  age  at  which  to  marry  as  determined  by  physiology - Why 

children  born  of  early  marriages  are  undesirable - The  effect  of  early  marriage  on  the 

woman - On  the  man - The  result  of  unions  between  persons  of  disproportionate  ages 

- Between  old  men  and  young  women, . 30 — 35 

CHAPTER  III. — The  Law  of  Choice. 

Its  great  importance - It  is  as  easily  understood  and  as  applicable  as  any  other  law  that  governs 

mind  and  matter Mode  of  forming  matrimonial  alliances  among  the  Assyrians Chi¬ 
nese - Moors - Turks - Tartars - Siberians - The  custom  of  purchasing  wives - 

Modem  marriages  analyzed - The  every-day  result - The  choosing  a  wife  and  purchas¬ 
ing  a  farm  compared - Wherein  consists  the  difference - The  great  error  made  in^choos- 

ing - The  only  true  mode - Resulting  in  a  harmonious  and  perfect  love  union - Phre¬ 

nology  as  a  guide  in  choosing,  ..........  36 — 44 

CHAPTER  IV. — Love  Analyzed. 

Is  love,  as  popularly  used,  a  requirement  in  choosing  a  wife  or  husband? - Poets  and  novelists 

on  love - The  mistiness  surrounding  the  true  meaning  of  the  word - The  mistake  made 

in  its  application - Characteristics  of  mock  love - Rationale  of  true  love - The  defini¬ 
tion  of  perfect  sexual  love - Parental  love - Brotherly  and  sisterly  love - Love  of  God 

Reciprocity  of  thought  and  feeling  as  a  requirement  in  love- - Love  at  first  sight - Can 

perfect  love  exist? - Health  and  purity  of  body  as  a  requirement  to  its  existence - Sick¬ 
ness  and  filthy  habits  as  a  bar  to  its  existence, . 45 — 50 


11 


12 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  V.— Qualities  the  Man  should  Avoid  in  Choosing. 

Transmitted  disease - Hysterical  women - Small  waists - Why  their  possessors  are  incapa. 

ble  of  making  good  wives - Natural  waists,  or  no  wives - Why  large  men  should  not 

marry  small  women - Ignorant  and  wrongly  educated - Strong-minded  women - Mod¬ 
ern  accomplishments,  their  utter  uselessness  in  married  life - Knowledge  of  household  af¬ 
fairs  a  requisite  in  all  women  who  marry - Skin-deep  beauty  and  true  beauty  compared - 

Extravagance  of  dress  and  ornament - False  hair,  false  “forms,"  etc - Women  who  are 

indolent  and  lazy - Marriage  of  cousins,  right  or  wrong  ? - Extracts  from  the  works  of 

Drs.  Carpenter  and  Voisin - The  author’s  opinion  and  advice  on  the  subject - Temper¬ 
aments - Widows - Divorced  women - Difference  in  religious  faith - Women  who 

have  a  greater  fondness  for  balls,  parties  and  gossip,  than  for  home  associations - Other 

qualities  that  are  to  be  avoided - How  and  when  to  see  women  to  learn  their  characteristics 

/Phrenology  as  a  help - What  should  be  done  on  choosing  and  being  accepted - Adver¬ 
tising  for  a  wife - Arguments  favoring  its  use - Mode  to  proceed - Objections  consid¬ 
ered,  . 51 — 63 


CHAPTER  VI. — Qualities  the  Woman  should  Avoid  in  Choosing. 

The  feverish  desire  of  women  to  get  married - Indications  of  the  result - Who  responsible - 

Perfect  womanhood  should  be  reached  before  the  thought  of  marriage  is  entertained - Sick¬ 
ness  and  ill  health  in  the  man - Men  possessing  the  disgusting  habit  of  using  tobacco,  and 

the  degrading  one  of  using  alcoholic  liquors,  should  be  avoided - Why? - An  unsolved 

mystery - Lustful  and  licentious  men - Are  moderate  drinkers  desirable  as  husbands  ? - 

The  “fast"  man  and  “rake,”  and  woman’s  shame  in  recognizing  such - Fallen  women, 

and  woman’s  duty  to  such - Effeminate  men - Men  having  no  visible  means  of  support 

- Blood-relations - Widowers - Divorced  men - Irreligious  and  profane  men - 

Gamblers - Mean  men - Lazy  men - Marrying  strangers  on  short  acquaintance - 

Marrying  for  money  or  a  home - Woman,  in  being  sought  after,  should  appear  only  in  her 

every-day  character - The  importance  of  this  as  affecting  her  future  welfare - Should 

women  be  allowed  to  advertise  for  husbands? - Doubts  on  the  subject - If  attempted, 

how  to  avoid  evil  results - Failing  an  offer  of  marriage,  what  then  ? - “  Old"  maids  — 

Words  of  cheer  and  consolation  to  unmarried  women, . 64 — 73 

CHAPTER  VII. — The  Anatomy  and  Physiology  of  Generation  in  Woman. 

The  importance  of  a  knowledge  of  reproductive  physiology  in  all  who  think  of  marrying — The 

uterus - Ligaments - Cavity  of  the  uterus - Structure - Fallopian  tubes - Ovaries 

- Their  structure - Graafian  follicles - Ovum,  or  egg - Size  and  formation  of  human 

egg - How  it  ripens  and  is  thrown  off - The  corpus  luteum - The  febrile  excitement 

produced  by  the  ripening  of  the  Graafian  vesicle  and  escape  of  the  egg - The  vagina - 

Labia - Hymen - Menstruation - When  it  first  appears  and  when  it  ceases - Its  ori¬ 
gin  and  nature - Ovarian  pregnancy - Tubal  pregnancy - The  mammary  glands - 

Nipples - The  secretion  of  milk - Colestrum,  . 74 — 84 

CHAPTER  VIII. — The  Anatomy  and  Physiology  of  Generation  in  Man. 

Prostrate  gland - Cowper  glands - Testes - Scrotum - Structure  of  the  testes - Vasa 

recta - Vasa  deferens - Spermatic  cord - Vesiculae  seminales - Ejactilatory  ducts - 

Semen - Its  nature,  how  it  originates,  and  how  perfected - Spermatozoa - Effect  of  first 

appearance  of  semen  on  boy - -Effect  of  its  re-absorption  in  the  continent  man - The 

Law  of  Sex - Is  there*  a  law  governing  the  production  of  children  of  different  sexes  at 

will? - Different  theories  on  the  subject - The  latest  theory  probably  the  right  one - 

Mode  of  procedure,  as  given  by  the  discoverer,  to  generate  male  or  female  children  at 
will,  . .  ...  85—94 

CHAPTER  IX. — Amativeness — its  Use  and  Abuse. 

The  cerebellum - Its  two-fold  nature - Amativeness - Its  size  in  proportion  to  rest  of  brain 

- Its  location - The  higher  the  organ  of  the  brain,  the  greater  the  pleasure  derived  from 

its  exercise - The  nervous  fluid - Where  originated - The  effect  when  largely  drawn  on 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS . 


13 


by  amativeness - Sensuality - Its  universality  among  all  classes  and  all  ages - Th 

effect  on  amative  desires  by  the  observance  of  right  and  wrong  dietetic  habits - Causes  of 

abnormal  amative  desires  in  men - The  results  of  the  abuse  of  amativeness - The  ef¬ 
fect  on  the  nervous  system - The  semen,  capable  of  giving  life,  is,  when  re-absorbed,  capa¬ 
ble  of  renewing  life - Promiscuous  indulgence - Risks  incurred - A  sad  case - Hos¬ 
pital  sights - Excessive  indulgence  between  the  married - The  slave-life  of  the  wife  in 

this  direction - The  results - Amative  excesses  in  those  newly  married - No  pure  love 

where  there  is  sexual  excess - Disgust,  not  love,  born  of  this  great  wrong - Easily  read 

signs  of  sexual  excess  in  the  man  and  woman - The  great  necessity  for  a  reformation  in 

this  direction, . .  .  95 — 107 


CHAPTER  X. — The  Prevention  of  Conception. 

The  true  reason  of  the  desire  for  knowledge  on  this  subject - Mode  adopted  by  the  “Perfec¬ 
tionists” - Its  difficulty  of  observance - Its  harmfulness - The  method  advocated  by 

latter-day  physiologists,  founded  on  the  theory  of  the  monthly  arrival  at  and  departure  from 
the  womb  of  the  ovum - Wherein  it  fails - Intercourse  during  lactation - How  it  re¬ 
sults  in  conception - Other  methods  of  conception,  and  the  harm  they  do - The  only 

true  method  of  prevention  as  ordained  by  God - The  observance  of  which  carries  with  it 

no  bad  after-effects, . 108 — 113 


CHAPTER  XI. — The  Law  of  Continence. 


Its  great  importance - The  prevailing  ignorance  on  the  subject - Definition  of  the  word  con¬ 
tinence - How  often  is  the  sexual  act  permissible  between  a  man  and  wife  living  a  pure  and 

chaste  life - The  only  true  solution  being  God’s  divine  law  in  this  direction - The  only 

natural  time  for  intercourse - Anything  differing  from  this  carries  with  it  sin  and  sickness 

Some  objections  to  a  continent  life  considered.  Locke,  Newton  and  Pitt,  men  who  never 

married,  and  who  were  known  to  live  continent  lives - The  elementary  differences  between 

a  life  of  licentiousness  and  a  life  of  strict  continence - The  true  use  of  the  reproductive  ele¬ 
ment - The  difficulty  in  adopting  and  living  a  continent  life - Rules  for  guidance - The 

reaction  produced  by  a  sudden  arrest  of  sexual  excess  and  the  use  of  alcoholic  liquors  com¬ 
pared  and  explained - Health  not  compatible  with  seminal  emissions - Plan  of  Life - 

Tobacco - Alcoholic  liquors - Gluttony - Food  to  be  used  and  avoided - Bread - 

Dress - Exercise - Beds  and  sleeping  rooms - Hours  for  rest  and  exercise - Habits 

- Employment Choice  of  companions Training  of  the  will-power Drug  and  pat¬ 
ent  medicines Quack  doctors Cultivation  of  the  religious  sentiments,  .  114 — 130 


CHAPTER  XII. — Children — their  Desirability. 

An  essential  requisite  in  a  perfect  union  that  parental  love  be  present - The  command  to  “  in¬ 
crease  and  multiply” - Why  children  are  troublesome  to  rear - The  remedy - Small 

families  and  no  families  among  the  married  on  the'  increase - Large  families  a  thing  of  the 

past - The  cause  for  the  growing  antipathy  to  have  children - Beauty  and  youth  retained, 

if  not  acquired,  by  having  children  under  right  conditions - The  loneliness  and  desolation 

of  life  without  children - The  bearing  and  rearing  of  children  a  glorious  privilege - The 

perfection  of  love  and  happiness  that  comes  of  generating  bright  and  beautiful  children - 

Abdon,  Judge  of  Israel,  with  his  forty  sons  and  thirty  grandchildren - Increase  of  offspring 

and  overcrowded  populations, . 131 — 135 


CHAPTER  XIII. — The  Law  of  Genius. 

Plainness  and  mediocrity  among  mankind  the  rule,  and  beauty  and  genius  the  exception - The 

cause  Educational  and  benevolent  institutions,  in  the  elevation  of  humanity,  of  very 

small  moment  in  comparison  with  the  pre-natal  influence  of  the  mother - All  the  workings 

of  this  universe,  from  the  smallest  to  the  greatest,  governed  by  law - In  the  production  of 

offspring  there  too  must  be  a  law - The  law  of  chance,  or  accident,  the  law  observed  by  the 

mass  of  mankind - The  great  wrong  done  by  the  non-observance  of  the  law  of  reproduc¬ 
tion - The  deformed,  homely  and  diseased - The  mediocre - The  world’s  great,  their 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


appearance  explained - The  immense  importance  of  a  right  birthright  on  the  future  welfare 

of  mankind - Extending  into  eternity - An  imbecile  or  idiot  here  cannot  bloom  into  a 

Shakespeare  or  Milton  in  the  next  world - A  nature  endowed  by  the  parents  with  a  licen¬ 

tious,  gluttonous,  wicked  nature,  will  not,  on  leaving  this  earth,  take  on  the  garments  of  pu¬ 
rity,  innocence  and  holiness - The  fundamental  principles  of  genius  in  reproduction - 

Some  obstacles  to  its  observance - Their  remedies - The  requirements  in  women  whose 

desire  it  is  to  observe  the  law  of  genius  in  the  production  of  bright  and  beautiful  children - 

The  requirements  in  men - Three  periods  of  transmitted  influence - Period  of  introduc¬ 
tory  preparation - Period  of  gestatory  influence - Period  of  nursing  influence - The 

mother’s  influence  during  these  periods - The  father’s  influence - The  time  at  which  the 

ovum,  or  egg,  is  in  its  freshest  and  ripest  state,  at  which  time  it  should  be  impregnated - 

Husband  and  wife’s  duty  during  the  period  of  introductory  preparation - The  principle 

requisites  required  to  transmit  desirable  qualities  to  the  offspring - The  quality  of  genius, 

or  beauty,  not  necessary  in  the  parents  to  enable  them  to  transmit  these  qualities  to  their  off¬ 
spring - Definition  of  genius  as  given  by  Webster - Talent  always  in  demand,  medioc¬ 
rity  always  at  a  discount - The  pursuit  of  life  for  the  child  to  be  determined  on  before  con¬ 
ception - Farmers - Farming  the  most  desirable  occupation  in  life - Where  they  fail  and 

how  they  fail - What  they  are  and  what  they  should  be - Other  occupations - Adam 

Smith  on  vegetarianism - First  thing  to  be  done  in  the  observance  of  the  season  of  intro¬ 
ductory'  preparation - The  importance  of  a  life  free  from  filthy  and  injurious  habits  during 

this  period - Order - Truthfulness - Reverence  for  God - Unity  of  plans  and  desires 

The  introductory  period  one  of  intensity  of  thought  and  action - Suppose  a  plan  of  life  be 

adopted  for  a  male  child,  and  a  female  appear - What  then? - Instruction  by  examples 

The  expense  for  educating  the  future  child  should  commence  with  the  introductory'  period  of 

preparation - This  law  of  genius  can  be  adopted  by  the  poorest  as  well  as  the  richest - 

Isa  necessity  as  much  to  the  laborer  as  to  the  diplomatist - In  transmission  of  genius,  the 

parents  do  not  require  to  know,  so  much  as  to  try,  to  experiment - The  transmission  of  ac¬ 
cessory  qualities  as  guides  and  aids  to  the  predominant  faculty - Religious  sentiments - 

Transmitted  beauty  of  face  and  form - Parents  can  as  easily  have  beautiful  children  as 

they  can  homely  ones - Rules  to  be  observed - Examples - Parents  can  generate  chil¬ 
dren  of  a  cheerful,  healthy,  laughing  nature  as  easily  as  they  can  the  reverse - The  plan  to 

be  followed  easy  of  observance - The  importance  of  a  life  of  strict  chastity  during  these  dif¬ 
ferent  periods  of  pre-natal  influence - The  feverish  pursuit  of  money  as  a  barrier  to  the  ob¬ 
servance  of  this  law - The  father’s  direct  influence  on  the  new  life  ends  with  the  period  of 

introductory'  preparation - The  importance  of  its  close  observance  by  him - The  result  of 

a  united  observance  of  this  law,  .......  .  .  136 — 166 

Part  Second — The  Consummation. 

CHAPTER  XIV. — The  Conception  of  a  New  Life. 

The  proper  season - The  best  months - Best  time  of  day - Light  and  darkness - Light  the 

source  of  life - Darkness  the  synonym  of  death - The  new  life  should  be  generated  when 

the  husband  and  wife  are  at  their  perfection  of  physical  and  mental  strength - The  time  of 

day  this  occurs - The  sleeping  room - The  morning  exercise  of  the  devotional  senti¬ 

ments Out-door  exercise Purity  of  thoughts The  consummation,  .  169 — 172 

CHAPTER  XV. — The  Physiology  of  Intra-Uterine  Growth. 

Growth  of  the  egg  after  fecundation - The  remarkable  change  that  takes  place - Segmentation 

of  the  vitellus - Blastodermic  membrane - External  layer - Internal  layer - Chorion 

- Ovum  at  end  of  first  month Relation  of  the  cord,  placenta,  membrane,  &c. Em¬ 
bryo,  how  nourished Placenta Foetal  circulation Description  of  growth  of  ovum 

from  tenth  day  to  ninth  month - Growth  and  development  of  the  face,  .  .  173 — 187 

CHAPTER  XVI. — Period  of  Gestative  Influence. 

The  fecundated  egg - When  the  physical  life  commences - When  the  soul  life  commences - 

The  medium  of  communication  between  the  soul  and  the  body - The  medium  of  commu- 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


i 


nication  between  the  mother  and  foetus - The  first  great  requirement  to  be  observed  by  the 

mother  during  this  period - The  food  tobeusedat  this  time - The  only  allowable  drink 

- Dyspepsia,  how  transmitted - The  importance  of  air  and  light - Baths - Sleep - 

Habits  of  thought  and  action  to  be  observed - Period  of  gestative  influence  to  be  divided 

into  two  sections - The  first  four  months,  the  physical  in  the  mother  predominating - The 

last  five,  the  mental  predominating - Indisputable  reasons  why  sexual  congress  should  not 

take  place  between  the  husband  and  wife  during  this  period - Illustrations  of  the  wonderful 

power  of  pre-natal  influence - A  young  prodigy - An  engineer - Woman’s  right  to 

choose  new  paths  of  labor - Woman’s  mediocrity  in  her  present  allotted  paths  of  labor - 

How  to  be  remedied - Napoleon  I - The  poet  Burns - Why  Scotland  produces  such  a 

number  of  literary  and  scientific  men - Other  illustrations - The  result,  when  this  law  is 

slighted  and  disregarded - Children  with  bad  tempers - Untruthful,  sickly,  scrofulous, 

consumptive,  homely,  desire  for  tobacco,  fondness  for  alcoholic  liquors,  licentious,  imbecile,  id¬ 
iotic,  dishonest,  revengeful - Cases  illustrating  these  facts - The  great  responsibility  pa¬ 
rents  accept  in  generating  new  beings  for  eternity,  .  »  188 — 216 


CHAPTER  XVII. — Pregnancy,  its  Signs  and  Duration. 


How  originating  a  new  life  affects  the  nature  of  the  mother- 

has  taken  place - Failure  in  recurrence  of  the  menses- 

- Mammary  changes - Secretion  of  milk - Enlargement  of  the  abdomen 


ing - Pregnancy  may  exist  without  any  of  these  signs- 


Signs  indicating  that  pregnancy 

Morning  sickness - Salivation 

-Quicken- 
Duration  of  pregnancy - Via¬ 


bility  of  the  child - Plan  to  adopt  to  save  life  in  a  birth  at  the  seventh  month, 

CHAPTER  XVIII. — Disorders  of  Pregnancy. 


217 — 223 


The  bearing  of  children  a  natural  process - Why  some  women  have  easy,  and  others  difficult 

births - The  underlying  cause  of  ill  health  during  pregnancy - Nausea  and  vomiting 

- Longings - Fainting - Sleeplessness - Costiveness - Diarrhoea - Piles - 

Pruritus - Heartburn - Toothache - Headache - Palpitation  of  the  heart - Swelling 

Irritation  of  the  bladder— — Jaun- 


of  the  feet  and  legs- 
dice - Vomiting  of  Blood 


Pain  in  the  breast - Hysteria- 


-Vaccination - Salivation - Abortion,  or  Miscarriage 


-.What  it  indicates - Its  frequency,  how  caused - Effects  on  the  woman  serious  and 


lasting - Symptoms - How  to  arrest - How  to  prevent, 

CHAPTER  XIX. — Confinement. 


224—237 


Mode  of  life  to  be  adopted  to  insure  an  easy  birth 
harden  the  bones- 


-Clothing- 


fering  in  parturition- 


Food  that  will  prematurely 

Food  that  will  keep  them  in  a  cartilageous  state - Prevention  from  suf- 

— The  time  when  this  particular  kind  of  food  should  be  used - Baths  a 

great  help  to  easy  child-birth - Injections - Pure  air  and  sunlight - Exercise - Pre¬ 
parations  for  Confinement - The  presence  of  gossiping  friends  and  neighbors  undesira¬ 
ble - Who  should  be  present - Commencement  of  labor - First  indications _ How  to 


proceed  in  case  the  accoucher  fails  to  attend, 


238 — 248 


CHAPTER  XX. — Management  of  Mother  and  Child  after  Delivery. 
Removal  of  soiled  clothes - Bathing - How  the  abdominal  bandage  is  useless - What  to 


-Mistakes  in  re- 
-Management 


substitute  in  its  place - Visitors - Ventilation  of  the  lying-in  chamber- 

gard  to  diet  at  this  time - The  breasts - Milk-fever - Care  of  nipples- 

of  child  after  birth - Baths - Dress - Exercise - Nursing-room - Food _ Soothing 

syrups - How  often  should  a  child  be  nursed - When  should  it  be  weaned,  .  249—265 

CHAPTER  XXI.— Period  of  Nursing  Influence. 

How  the  character  of  the  child  is  influenced  by  the  mother  during  this  period _ The  great 

wrong  done  the  child  when  not  nursed  by  the  mother - Maternal  influence  during  this  pe¬ 
riod  greatly  under-estimated - Effect  of  the  use  of  wrong  food  and  drink  by  the  mother  on 

the  health  and  character  of  the  child - Effect  of  mental  effort  on  the  nursing  child _ The 

mother  can  transmit  desirable  mental  and  physical  qualities  to  the  child  during  this  period 
- Full  directions  to  this  end,  . . 266—272 


l6 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS . 


Part  Third — Wrongs  Righted. 

CHAPTER  XXII.— Fceticide. 


Its  extent - A  nation  of  murderers - As  prevalent  in  the  country  as  in  the  city - Proofs - 

The  crime  a  murder — no  more  no  less - Arguments  the  perpetrators  advance  to  shield  their 

iniquity - When  life  is  present  in  the  embryo - When  the  soul  is  present - Classes  of 

society  in  which  the  women  are  found  who  practice  ante-natal  child-murder - Church-mem¬ 
bers  and  professing  Christians  not  exempt - The  crime  against  the  wife  and  child  of  an  un¬ 
desired  maternity - Who  responsible - Letters  from  women  who  have  suffered,  exposing 

the  cause  and  its  results  in  all  their  hideous  deformity - Results  of  forced  abortions  on  the 

body  and  soul  of  the  mother - Proportion  who  die - The  local  effects - Effects  on  the 

children  born  after - Sterility  a  frequent  result - Beauty  destroyed - Old  age  hastened 

- Remorse  of  conscience - The  ever-present  phantom  of  a  great  crime - These  unde¬ 
veloped  souls  as  witnesses  in  the  next  world Advice  offered,  the  observance  of  which  will 

result  in  less  danger  and  harm  to  the  mother - Effect  on  the  child  should  the  woman  fail  in 

accomplishing  her  desire - Suggestions  as  to  how  this  great  crime  is  to  be  treated  and  pre¬ 
vented - No  forced  abortions  practiced  by  Roman  Catholics - The  duty  of  ministers  and 

teachers - Parting  words  to  unmarried  women, . 275 — 305 


CHAPTER  XXIII. — Diseases  Peculiar  to  Women — Their  Cause, 

And  symptoms ;  directions  for  home-treatment  and  cure - Why  women  are  so  universally  com¬ 
plaining - A  rich  field  for  quacks  and  patent-medicine  venders - Absent  menstruation - 

Retained  menstruation - Suppressed  menstruation - Chronic  suppression - Irregular 

menstruation - Painful  menstruation - Profuse  menstruation - Vicarious  menstruation 

- Cessation  of  menstruation Chlorosis Inflammation  of  the  ovaries Inflamma¬ 
tion  of  the  uterus Chronic  inflammation Ulceration  of  the  uterus Tumor  in  the 

uterus - Cancer  of  the  uterus - Corroding  ulcer - Cauliflower  excrescence - Displace¬ 


ment  of  the  uterus- 
- Retroflexion — 


— Prolapsus  uteri,  or  falling  of  the  womb - 

-Ante-version - Leucorrhoea  or  “whites” 


Retroversion  of  the  uterus 
306 — 323 


CHAPTER  XXIV. — Diseases  Peculiar  to  Men — Their  Cause, 

Apd  symptoms,  with  directions  for  home-treatment  and  cure - Gonorrhoea - Gleet _ . 

Phimosis Paraphimosis Stricture  of  the  urethra Swelled  testicle Inflamma¬ 
tion  of  the  prostate  gland Inflammation  of  the  bladder Vegetations The  chan¬ 
croid  and  chancre - Buboes - Syphilis - Diagnostic  difference  between  the  chancroid 

and  chancre - Involuntary  nocturnal  emissions - Spermatozoa - Miscellaneous  disor¬ 
ders  affecting  emission,  erection  and  the  semen,  .  .  .  324 _ 352 


CHAPTER  XXV. — Masturbation. 


Its  cause,  results  and  cure - Its  extent - Its  effects  on  the  character  and  future  prospects  of 

the  individual - Evidence  from  the  superintendent  of  a  lunatic  asylum  as  to  its  preva¬ 
lence - Exciting  and  transmitted  causes - Signs  ]n  the  boy,  girl  or  man,  that  he  who  runs 

may  read - Home-method  of  cure  and  restoration  to  perfect  manhood - Requirements 

necessary  to  its  prevention, . 333 _ 367 

CHAPTER  XXVI. — Sterility  and  Impotence. 

Cause,  treatment  and  cure - One  of  the  first  laws  promulgated  by  the  Almighty,  “  Increase 

and  multiply” - The  incapacity  to  observe  this  law  a  source  of  life-long  misery  and  unhap¬ 
piness - Sterility,  in  most  cases,  susceptible  of  removal - Two  classes - Violated  physi¬ 
ological  laws  as  causes - How  excess  in  the  newly  married  results  in  sterilitv - Why  a 

large  proportion  of  the  newly  married  have  no  desire  for  children - How  sterility  occurs 

after  the  birth  of  one  or  two  children - Inflammation  of  the  uterus  as  a  cause _ Genera- 

debility - Prolapsus  and  obliquity  of  the  womb  as  causes - Imperforate  hymen _ Struc- 


INTRODUCTION. 


ARRIAGE,  in  the  popular  accepta¬ 
tion  of  the  term,  signifies  the  legal 
union  of  a  man  and  woman  for  life 
— a  contract,  both  civil  and  relig¬ 
ious,  by  which  the  parties  engage 
to  live  together  in  mutual  affection 
and  fidelity  until  death  shall  sepa¬ 
rate  them. 

The  “legal  union  and  contract, 
both  civil  and  religious,”  is  the  rule  generally  observed  in  all 
civilized  nations ;  the  “  mutual  affection  and  fidelity  until 
death  shall  separate  them,”  the  very  rare  exception,  in  both 
civilized  and  barbarous  nations. 

That  there  is,  in  our  present  age,  and  without  any  appa¬ 
rent  drift  toward  a  higher  and  better  order  of  things,  a  large 
amount  of  sin  and  suffering, the  result  of  mis-mating  men  and 
women,  is  a  fact  as  sad  as  it  is  evident ;  and  yet,  when  the 
various  reasons,  causes  and  objects  are  given  as  the  desire  for 
marrying  and  giving  in  marriage,  the  sorrow,  in  one  of  a 
pure  mind,  turns  to  disgust. 

The  girl  growing  into  womanhood  is  taught  and  educated 
in  the  belief  that  the  object  and  aim  of  her  life  is  the  secur¬ 
ing  of  a  husband  ;  and,  that  failure  may  be  impossible,  a  su¬ 
perficial  education,  deceit  and  lying,  are  ingrained  in  her 


19 


20 


INTRODUCTION. 


very  nature,  the  whole  strategy  of  which  is  employed  in 
compassing  the  body,  if  not  the  heart,  of  some  “  lord  of  cre¬ 
ation,”  without  any  reflection  as  to  whether  the  man  is  to 
make  for  her  a  pleasant  or  miserable  married  life  ;  whether 
he  is  to  cull  for  her  the  sweet-tasting  blossoms  of  a  joyous, 
happy,  lovable  life,  or  the  sharply-pointed  thorns  of  discon¬ 
tent,  hate  and  misery. 

From  out  of  this  wrongly  educated  life  of  the  woman 
there  is  reflected,  in  the  man,  a  sense  of  superiority  that  is 
physically  wrong,  and  a  sense  of  egotism  that  is  morally 
wrong,  the  result  being  that  he  lives  a  life  of  constant  advan¬ 
tage  in  all  his  relations  with  woman  ;  and,  until  woman  is 
educated  up  to  a  higher,  a  purer  and  nobler  standard  of  life, 
and  so  reach  her  position  as  man’s  equal  (which  she  is  and 
should  be  in  every  relation  of  life),  man  will  be  the  master — 
woman  the  slave,  and  love,  perfect  love,  cannot  be,  and  the 
present  state  of  society,  as  exemplified  in  its  social  rela 
tions,  will  continue  to  the  end  of  time. 

The  impartial  observer  and  thinker  will  allow  that  two- 
thirds,  if  not  three-fourths,  of  the  misery  of  the  world  arises 
from  the  infelicity  of  the  conjugal  relations;  and  to  no  single 
country  or  nation  is  it  confined,  but  it  pervades  all  society  the 
world  over. 

“For  a  result,  then,  so  universal  there  must  be  a  cause  or 
causes  as  universal,  not  depending  on  any  particular  customs, 
manners  or  religion  or  political  institutions.  And  what  are 
these  causes  ?  Many  things  do  puzzle  me  in  this  strange 
world  of  ours — many  things  in  which  the  new  world  and  the 
old  world  are  equally  incomprehensible.  I  cannot  understand 
why  an  evil  everywhere  acknowledged  and  felt  is  not  rem¬ 
edied  somewhere,  or  discussed  by  some  one  with  a  view  to  a 
remedy ;  but  no — it  is  like  putting  one’s  hand  into  the  fire 
only  to  touch  upon  it ;  it  is  the  universal  bruise,  the  putrefy¬ 
ing  sore,  on  which  you  must  not  lay  a  finger,  or  your  patient 
(that  is,  society)  cries  out  and  resists,  and,  like  a  sick  baby, 
scratches  and  kicks  its  physician.” 


INTRODUCTION, 


2  I 

That  marriage,  consummated  under  right  conditions,  for 
right  purposes,  bears  intimately  on  the  prosperity  and  wel¬ 
fare  of  communities  and  states,  and  is  the .  source  of  all  in¬ 
dustry,  subordination  and  government  among  men,  the  au¬ 
thor  firmly  believes.  He,  therefore,  who  shall  succeed  in 
rendering  marriage  a  matter  of  serious  consideration,  and  not 
blind  experiment,  will  deserve  well  of  society,  and  cannot  of¬ 
fend  against  delicacy  or  religious  feeling. 

Closely  allied  to  a  true  and  perfect  marriage  is  the  com¬ 
mand  to  increase  and  multiply — a  command  that,  among  the 
better  and  higher  classes  of  society,  is  in  danger  of  being 
sadly  neglected.  Its  importance  in  the  solution  of  life’s 
problems — the  hopes  and  fears,  pleasures  and  pains,  health 
and  sickness,  prosperity  and  adversity — is  not  lightly  to  be 
estimated.  In  the  propagating  of  the  species  knowingly  and 
understanding^,  the  father  and  mother  can  do  more  toward 
a  true  solution  of  the  questions  of  the  age,  than  can  all  the 
temperance  societies,  religious  denominations,  and  reform  in¬ 
stitutions  in  the  world.  Parents,  exercising  a  lovable  and 
true  use  of  this  life-giving  power — the  power  of  creating  man 
in  God’s  own  image — can,  it  they  earnestly  will  and  work  for 
it,  re-create  and  people  the  world  with  mortals  just,  pure, 
loving  and  Christ-like.  A  great  and  arduous  responsibility 
rests  on  every  father  and  mother  who  entertain  the  desire  of 
bringing  into  life  a  new  being,  but  it  is  a  responsibility  which, 
if  exercised  as  unperverted  nature  intended  it  to  be,  brings 
with  it  naught  but  ineffable  pleasure,  holy  joy,  and  unalloyed 
happiness. 

But  this  heaven-ordained  law  to  increase  and  multiply  and 
replenish  the  earth  is  being,  in  this  our  age  and  continent, 
greatly  perverted,  avoided,  broken,  and  by  ways  and  means 
that  not  only  prevent  the  carrying  out  of  the  spirit  of  the 
command,  but,  with  a  just  judgment,  bring  the  perpetrators 
thereof  to  a  life  of  bodily  sickness,  mental  suffering,  and,  in 
thousands  of  cases,  are  the  direct  and  controlling  means  of 
shortening  life.  The  one  great  cause  of  this  wide-spread  sin 


22 


INTRODUCTION. 


is  the  universal  ignorance  of  the  masses  in  this  “Science  of  a 
New  Life.”  Sexual  physiology  and  its  outlying  branches  are 
frowned  down,  hid  away  in  dark  corners,  or  talked  of  in  whis¬ 
pers,  as  knowledge  that  is  contaminating,  and  therefore  dan¬ 
gerous,  and  to  be  avoided  ;  and,  when  carefully  inquired  into, 
it  will  almost  invariably  be  found  that  the  men  and  women 
who  most  decry  this  species  of  knowledge  are  the  ones  who, 
through  wrong  and  perverted  natures,  have  committed  sex¬ 
ual  sins,  and  for  the  right  guidance  of  whom  to  a  strong  and 
perfect  manhood,  and  pure  and  lovable  womanhood,  just  such 
knowledge  is  required. 

Springing  out  of  the  disobeying  of  the  laws  that  govern 
the  sexual  system  are  diseases  innumerable ;  but,  primarily, 
the  nervous  system  is  so  influenced  and  disorganized  as  to 
lay  the  sub-structure  for  all  the  positively  nervous,  and 
nearly  all  the  inflammatory  and  chronic  diseases  that  afflict 
mankind,  and  especially  womankind.  If  there  was  one  proof 
more  than  another  required  to  show  the  prevailing  ignorance 
on  sexual  subjects,  the  one  of  universal  nervousness  (which 
implies  want  of  nerves,  or  absence  of  nerve-power)  abroad 
among  all  man  and  womankind  would  of  itself  suffice. 

To  live  a  true,  pure  and  successful  life — socially,  morally 
and  spiritually — should  be  the  object  and  aim  of  all ;  and,  as 
one  of  the  steps  toward  this  end,  is  advised  the  reading  and 
digesting  of  this  “Science  of  a  New  Life.” 


9 


PART  FIRST. 


THE  PREPARATION. 


THE 


Science  of  a  New  Life. 


CHAPTER  I. 

t 

MARRIAGE  AND  ITS  ADVANTAGES — OBJECTS  IN  MARRYING. 

growing  tendency  of  the  age 
inclines  toward  celibacy  in  man, 
and,  as  a  result,  maidenhood  in 
woman,  and  the  reasons  ad¬ 
vanced  for  declining  to  enter  into 
matrimony  are  many  and  un¬ 
sound. 

One  of  the  prime  and  most 
universal  reasons  is  the  want  of 
money  to  support  the  wife  in 
the  position  in  which  she  has 
hitherto  moved.  A  young  man 
with  a  stated  salary,  or  com¬ 
mencing  business,  dreads  the  re¬ 
sponsibility  of  a  wife  and  the 
subsequent  family.  This  fails  in  being  a  good  reason,  for  it 
proceeds  as  much  from  selfishness  as  from  dread  of  poverty. 
A  man  who  advances  this  as  a  cause  for  remaining  single,  will 
be  found,  on  examination,  to  spend  more  money  on  his  own 
person  and  friends  than  would  easily  support  a  woman  hav¬ 
ing  his  interests,  welfare  and  happiness  at  heart.  Especially 
is  this  so  if  he  be  of  the  kind  termed  “fast,”  for  such  men, 


26 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


as  well  as  all  who  associate  with  such,  exercise  assiduously 
the  animal  part  of  their  natures,  and  in  the  sowing  of  their 
“wild  oats”  their  feet  tread  dangerously  near  the  paths  that 
lead  to  destruction  ;  and  the  money  required  to  pay  their 
way  would,  if  they  married  a  true  woman  and  lived  a  pure 
life,  give  them  glimpses  of  heaven  they  never  would  know 
of  in  their  degrading,  doubtful  single  blessedness. 

Others  dread  the  care,  trouble  and  doubts  that  are  usually 
associated  with  married  life.  For  such  it  is  better  that  they 
remain  single;  for,  wanting  the  strength  that  comes  of  just 
endeavor,  and  the  requisites  that  lead  to  perfect  manhood, 
their  progeny  is  not  desirable.  % 

Others,  again,  decline  marrying  through  fear  of  being 
united  to  a  woman  who,  not  suited  to  their  temperament, 
will  make  their  life  anything  but  a  pleasant  one  ;  and  yet 
others,  who  have  the  desire .  to  marry,  but,  judging  from 
the  accounts  of  the  family  quarrels,  divorces  and  separations 
that  are  continually  coming  to  the  surface  in  the  daily  and 
weekly  records  of  our  time,  have  a  dread  of  the  very  word 
marriage.  In  the  light  of  a  new  method  of  choosing  a  wife, 
to  be  hereafter  herein  recorded,  these  doubts  and  dangers 
can  be  avoided,  and  success,  or  comparative  success,  be  se¬ 
cured,  and  all  risk  as  to  unhappy  marriages  evaded. 

That  marriage  is  a  natural  condition  of  adult  life,  and  a 
requisite  to  every  man  and  woman’s  perfect  happiness  and 
success  in  this  world,  requires  no  argument,  or  needs  none 
of  the  many  divine  and  human  authorities  to  attest  the  fact ; 
and  no  man  who  fails  to  enter  this  condition  at  the  proper 
period  can  be  considered  as  compassing  all  the  relations  for 
which  his  Creator  designed  him — in  other  words,  he  is  not  a 
complete  man.  This  also  applies  to  woman. 

The  great  desire  and  aim  of  life  is  happiness ,  and  a  first 
requisite  to  an  attainment  of  this  end,  in  a  man  or  woman,  is 
matrimony.  In  the  shadows  of  the  present  records  of  sepa¬ 
rations  and  general  unhappiness  in  married  life  this  may  be 
doubted  ;  yet,  these  things  being  due  to  avoidable  causes,  it 
does  not  in  the  least  alter  the  fact. 


MA  RRIA  GE  A  ND  ITS  ADVA  NT  A  GES.  27 


Another  requisite  in  the  acquirement  of  happiness  is  health. 
The  single  state  being  an  abnormal  and  unnatural  condition, 
it  is,  as  a  rule,  unfavorable  to  health  and  longevity.  That 
this  is  true  of  length  of  life  is  demonstrated  by  the  fact  that, 
in  the  list  of  individuals  who  have  lived  to  a  great  age,  there 
are  no  unmarried  persons. 

It  is  almost  a  universal  belief  that  the  accumulation  of 
property  and  the  possession  of  wealth  are  requisite  to  happi¬ 
ness.  This  is  open  to  doubt ;  but,  allowing  it  to  be  so,  in 
no  other  way  is  success  so  certain  and  easy  of  attainment  as 
in  marrying.  (In  all  these  allusions  to  marrying,  it  is  to  be 
understood  that  the  parties  united  are  suited  to  each  other, 
mentally  and  physically.)  In  the  getting  of  riches,  the  sel¬ 
fish  propensities  are  brought  powerfully  into  play,  and  of 
these  acquisitiveness  takes  the  lead.  In  marrying,  this  sav¬ 
ing  and  acquiring  faculty  is  greatly  increased,  and  in  years  is 
doubled  and  quadrupled.  Young  men,  as  a  rule,  before  be¬ 
coming  husbands  and  fathers,  are  as  wasteful  of  their  time  as 
they  are  prodigal  of  their  money ;  and  should  it  be  their  de¬ 
sire  to  reform  and  become  prosperous  and  wealthy,  the  best 
known  recipe  is  to  marry,  not  a  rich,  but  a  frugal  companion. 

A  meal  eaten  alone  may  gratify  the  appetite ;  yet  even  the 
pleasures  of  the  palate  are  greatly  increased  by  the  exquisite 
satisfaction  derived  from  eating  at  our  own  table,  surrounded 
by  our  family  and  friends. 

What  is  true  of  acquisitiveness  and  alimentiveness  is 
equally  so  of  all  other  faculties,  the  combining  of  which,  in¬ 
dividually  and  collectively,  with  each  and  all  other  faculties, 
augments  their  power  of  exciting  to  the  highest  pitch  of 
pleasurable  or  painful  action,  according  as  they  are  properly 
or  improperly  directed. 

Nothing  has  been  said  as  to  reproduction,  in  which  happiness 
is  most  highly  symbolized,  as  it  will  be  written  of  elsewhere. 

Matrimony  gives  the  opportunity  and  occasion  to  improve 
all  the  domestic,  social  and  higher  faculties  of  the  mind,  and 
of  guiding  the  man  and  woman  to  a  higher  and  holier  stand¬ 
ard  of  life. 


28 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE . 


Objects  in  Marrying. — The  motives  which  influence 
the  majority  of  men  and  women  in  contracting  matrimonial 
unions  are  generally  false,  selfish,  and  most  detrimental  to 
the  happiness  of  the  individuals,  and  to  the  procreation  of 
sound  and  vigorous  offspring — such  as  ambition,  wealth,  rank, 
title,  interest,  a  love  of  independence,  of  an  establishment,  a 
desire  to  escape  parental  restraint,  anger,  a  determination  to 
disinherit  relations,  disdain  for  a  faithless  lover  or  mistress, 
necessity,  obligation,  passion,  imitation,  and  very  rarely  the 
only  proper  motive — pure  and  virtuous  affection.  It  is  also 
generally  admitted  that  parental  authority  cannot  reasonably 
or  morally  compel  alliances,  when  the  inclination  of  the  indi¬ 
vidual  most  concerned  is  opposed  ;  although  we  see  too 
many  forced  and  unhappy  marriages  which  are  to  be  as¬ 
cribed  to  this  cause. 

There  is  no  other  business  in  life  undertaken  with  such 
false  objects  in  view  as  the  business  of  choosing  a  wife  or 
husband.  Men,  at  the  commencement  of  an  undertaking 
largely  involving  their  reputation  and  interests,  carefully  can¬ 
vass  every  possible  shade  of  profit  and  loss,  risk  or  gain ;  but 
in  the  choice  of  a  wife,  in  the  absence  of  a  systematized 
mode  of  choosing,  they  undertake  it  blindly,  if  not  igno¬ 
rantly.  The  admiration  of  some  single  quality  in  a  woman 
results  in  many  marriages.  A  person,  sinking  the  imagina¬ 
tive  of  his  nature  into  the  practical,  well  knows  that  a  small, 
soft  hand,  or  a  beautiful  face,  or  a  small  waist,  or  graceful 
carriage,  or  good  talking, will  not,  in  themselves,  indicate  the 
true  character  of  their  possessors,  and  yet  how  many  unions 
are  formed  through  some  one  or  other  fancy,  the  result  al¬ 
most  invariably  being  a  sudden  waking  up  to  a  realization  of 
the  fact  that  it  takes  other  qualities  than  a  beautiful  hand  or 
face  to  constitute  a  happy  married  existence. 

Another  reason  for  marrying,  though  one  not  generally 
observed,  is  the  marrying  of  those  afflicted  with  peculiar  dis¬ 
eases,  it  being  popularly  supposed  that,  in  some  mysterious 
way,  marriage  will  assist  a  recovery,  if  not  effect  a  cure.  No 


OBJECTS  IN  MARRYING. 


29 


more  dangerous  doctrine  ever  was  promulgated,  for  the  ef¬ 
fect  on  the  sick  individual  after  marriage  is  constantly,  and 
often  rapidly,  toward  an  increase  of  the  sickness  and  a  short¬ 
ening  of  life ;  and  even  if  this  could  be  doubted,  and  pos¬ 
sibly  were  not  so,  the  joining  of  a  sick  man  to  a  healthy 
woman,  or  the  reverse,  is,  to  use  a  mild  phrase,  barbarous ; 
but  the  entailing  of  disease  on  the  offspring  is  worse  than 
barbarous — it  is  sinful.  Let  no  man  or  woman  marry  with 
any  such  object  in  view.  If  through  sin  you  suffer,  bear  the 
whole  burden  on  your  own  shoulders ;  and,  if  otherwise  un¬ 
avoidable,  die  with  it ;  but  do  not  saddle  posterity  with  it. 

The  true  object  of  marriage,  and  the  only  one  that  should 
be  entertained,  is  the  perfection  of  existence  that  comes  of  a 
physiological  union,  and  the  propagation  of  offspring  that  go 
to  make  such  a  union  complete,  and  it  is  the  combining  of 
all  which  perfects  love,  intensifies  happiness,  and  makes  life 
worth  living  for. 


CHAPTER  II. 


AGE  AT  WHICH  TO  MARRY. 


HE  proper  age  for  marriage,  as 
fixed  by  law  in  all  countries,  con¬ 
flicts  with  the  physiological  law 
that  guides  the  growth  of  the 
body.  The  capabilities  to  repro¬ 
duce,  as  indicated  by  the  arrival 
of  puberty,  is  the  time  usually 
fixed  as  the  marriageable  age. 
In  countries  having  climates  of 
moderate  temperatures,  this  takes 
place,  in  girls,  at  from  thirteen  to 
sixteen  years  of  age ;  in  boys,  at 
from  fifteen  to  eighteen  years  of 
age,  depending  greatly  on  the 
temperament  and  mode  of  life. 
Very  rich  and  nutritious  food, 
spices,  tea,  coffee,  alcoholic  liq- 
ors,  tobacco,  life  in  large  cities, 
and  moral  influences,  greatly  and 
unnaturally  accelerate  this  very  important  period. 

As  heat  increases  the  vital  energy  in  all  organized  bodies, 
and  renders  their  growth  more  rapid,  it  must  necessarily 
hasten  the  period  of  puberty;  and,  as  a  result,  in  all  trop¬ 
ical  climates  puberty  in  women  commences  much  earlier — 
generally  from  nine  to  ten  years  of  age. 

This  early  development  of  the  reproductive  organs  and 
functions  is  by  no  means  advantageous,  for  individuals  reach¬ 
ing  maturity  early  are  generally  short-lived  ;  beauty  early 
departs,  and  old  age  comes  on  rapidly.  On  the  contrary, 


3° 


AGE  AT  WHICH  TO  MARRY. 


3i 


the  slow  arrival  at  maturity  insures  the  retaining  to_  an  ad¬ 
vanced  age  of  strength,  beauty,  and  reproductive  power. 

The  great  error  in  fixing  the  present  age  for  marriage 
arises  from  taking  the  arrival  of  puberty  as  the  proper  time, 
it  being  popularly  supposed  that  when  this  is  present  the 
woman  is  capable  of  reproduction  and  ready  for  marriage. 
This  is  a  fallacy,  for  marriage  should  be  consummated 
only  between  a  physiologically  perfect  man  and  woman. 
Physical  perfection  implies  ripeness,  indicated  by  the  full 
growth  of  every  organ  in  the  human  organization.  Now, 
when  puberty  first  shows  itself,  the  osseous  part  of  the  sys¬ 
tem  is  not  fully  grown,  which  implies — seeing  that  the  osse¬ 
ous  frame  is  the  structure  which  supports  the  muscular,  ner¬ 
vous,  arterial,  digestive  and  other  parts  of  the  body — that 
the  reproductive  element  is  not  full-grown ;  but  its  appear¬ 
ance  only  indicates  its  continuance  to  perfect  growth,  in  har¬ 
mony  with  all  the  other  organized  parts  of  the  body. 

There  are  many  bones  of  the  body  that  are  not  completely 
ossified  or  full-grown  until  the  twenty-fifth  year  of  age.  The 
clavicle,  or  collar-bone — appearing  before  any  other  bone  in 
the  body — does  not  attain  its  full  growth  until  the  eighteenth 
year.  The  scapula,  or  shoulder-blade,  is  not  completely 
formed  until  the  twenty-fifth  year ;  as  also  the  bones  of  the 
pelvis  and  leg.  Now,  this  being  so,  is  it  not  reasonable  to 
argue  that  the  appearance  of  puberty  at  fourteen  to  eighteen 
years  of  age  is  not  an  indication  of  ripeness  of  body.  Care¬ 
ful  investigation  shows  that  the  women  of  temperate  cli¬ 
mates  do  not  get  their  growth  until  the  twenty-fourth  year. 
They  may  get  their  height  at,  perhaps,  sixteen  or  eighteen.; 
but  until  twenty-four,  if  a  right  mode  of  life  is  allowed  them, 
they  grow  broader,  more  solid  and  robust. 

In  man,  the  period  of  perfect  growth  does  not  arrive  until 
the  twenty-eighth  or  thirtieth  year.  Through  the  early  ex¬ 
cesses  of  men,  or  rather  boys — for  they  are  usually  enacted 
before  the  thirtieth  year — nature  is  thwarted  in  her  endeav¬ 
ors  to  build  up  a  perfect  manhood,  the  life-power  is  directed 


32 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


into  wrong  channels,  and  a  weak,  inferior,  unhealthy  organi¬ 
zation  is  the  result. 

In  woman,  child-beacing — omitting  to  mention  the  results 
of  excesses — before  the  age  of  twenty-four,  are  much  more 
noticeable ;  for  the  life-power,  changed  from  the  building  up 
to  perfect  growth  of  the  body,  is  directed  to  the  nourishment 
of  the  embryonic  life,  the  result  being  the  birth  of  an  unripe 
child  from  an  unripe  mother. 

The  children  born  of  early  marriages  are  feeble,  liable  to 
disease,  and  generally  die  young ;  and,  though  they  have  an 
appearance  of  perfect  health  and  robustness,  they  seldom 
reach  the  age  of  manhood,  and  old  age  is  out  of  the  ques¬ 
tion. 

The  growth  of  the  mother  is  arrested  and  diminished,  del¬ 
icate  and  bad  health  follows,  with  all  its  attendant  miseries, 
and  old  age  rapidly  comes  on ;  for  it  may  be  stated,  and  it 
can  be  affirmed  from  personal  observation  by  any  person 
anxious  to  test  the  assertion,  that  for  every  year  inside  of 
twenty  a  woman  marries,  she  takes  on  three  years  of  prema¬ 
ture  age. 

The  man  who  marries  before  twenty-eight  or  thirty,  or 
who  commits  sexual  excesses,  or  lives  other  than  a  life  of 
strict  continence,  arrests  the  growth  of  his  body,  weakens 
his  entire  system,  his  muscles  become  pale  and  flabby,  nerves 
weak,  brain  forever  oppressed  and  clogged,  and  he  is  no  more 
capable,  in  his  work  in  life’s  vineyard,  to  make  a  name  for 
himself  among  the  earth’s  great  ones,  than  the  veriest  born 
fool.  Disease,  premature  age  and  early  death  make  his  life  a 
sad  failure. 

Writing  on  the  subject  of  early  marriages,  the  author  of 
a  valuable  work  entitled  “  Marriage”  says  : 

“  Very  early  marriages  are,  in  our  opinion,  a  serious  evil. 
Acting  under  the  impulse  of  headstrong  passions,  or  caprice, 
or  dissatisfaction,  young  persons  too  often  prematurely  rush, 
thoughtlessly  and  blindly,  into  engagements  which,  in  after 
life,  become  matters  of  deep  and  painful  regret.  The  fancy 


AGE  AT  WHICH  TO  MARRY. 


33 


visions  of  love’s  paradise  now  vanish,  and  the  sober  realities 
of  life,  its  cares,  its  difficulties,  and  its  positive  evils,  soon 
lead  to  discontent,  and,  worse  than  all,  to  a  growing  mutual 
indifference.  Would  that  such  cases  were  only  rare,  or  only 
speculative ;  but  the  fact  is  otherwise.  We  every  day  see 
boys  and  girls  at  the  head  of  families  who  want  discretion  to 
direct  themselves.  No  wonder  that  families  are  ill-governed, 
children  ill-managed,  and  their  affairs  ill-directed,  when  the 
helm  is  intrusted  to  unskillful  and  inexperienced  hands.  Is 
it  possible,  we  would  ask,  that  wives  of  sixteen  or  eighteen 
years  of  age  should  possess  that  discretion,  prudence  and 
wisdom  so  essential  to  enable  them  to  govern  households, 
rear  children,  and  form  their  tempers  and  their  principles  ?” 

The  ancient  Germans  did  not  marry  until  the  twenty-fifth 
year,  previous  to  which  they  observed  the  most  rigid  chastity, 
and  in  consequence  of  which  their  offspring  acquired  a  size 
and  strength  that  excited  the  astonishment  of  Europe.  Com¬ 
mon  sense  should  indicate  that  a  giddy  youth,  at  the  age  of 
puberty,  with  the  down  on  his  chin,  can  not  communicate  a 
perfect  vitality ;  or  that  a  girl,  at  puberty,  with  the  disorders 
of  pregnancy,  and  the  fatigue  of  labor  and  suckling,  cannot 
develop  other  than  sickly,  puny  offspring. 

No  man  or  woman  should  perform  the  act  of  marriage  un¬ 
til  the  body  has  acquired  all  the  development  necessary  to 
its  full  growth.  Nature  always  tends  to  perfection  in  all  her 
operations,  and  assuredly  a  feeble  being,  and  one  imperfectly 
grown,  can  not  be  the  source  of  a  sound  and  vigorous  gene¬ 
ration  ;  at  the  same  time,  the  premature  exercise  of  certain 
functions,  essentially  debilitating  even  to  individuals  fully  de¬ 
veloped,  cannot  but  remarkably  retard  the  growth  and  vigor 
of  persons  under  the  adult  age. 

All  unions  between  persons  of  disproportionate  ages,  on 
account  of  pecuniary  or  other  worldly  considerations,  should 
be  avoided,  for  they  are  usually  followed  by  much  misery. 
The  power  of  fecundity  ceasing  with  one  party  is  the  cause 
of  great  immorality,  leading  the  husband  to  debauchery,  and 

3 


34 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


the  wife  to  all  the  excesses  of  jealousy.  Offspring,  the  re¬ 
sult  of  such  ill-assorted  marriages,  are  always  delicate,  and 
physically  and  mentally  worthless. 

This  especially  applies  to  old  or  elderly  men,  for  such 
unions,  being  entirely  contrary  to  all  physiological  law,  en¬ 
tail  naught  but  suffering  on  the  perpetrators  ;  yet,  if  there 
be  such  men,  who  are  tired  of  health  and  life,  there  is  no 
more  certain  method  of  acquiring  disease,  and  reaching  a 
rapid  end,  than  by  this  way. 

Says  Parise  :  “  There  are  great  risks  run ;  for  in  the  ex¬ 
treme  disparity  of  age,  and  ofttimes  condition — as  when  the 
man  is  rich  and  the  girl  is  young — Nature  avenges  herself 
by  spreading  scandals,  doubts  about  paternity,  and  domestic 
troubles ;  everything  is  at  variance — age,  disposition,  char¬ 
acter,  tastes  and  amusements.  ‘  What  shall  I  do  with  him, 
and  what  will  he  do  with  me  ?’  said  a  clever  young  girl  of 
eighteen,  whose  parents  wished  her  to  marry  an  old  gentle¬ 
man.  With  regard  to  health  and  vital  force,  it  is  easy  to 
foresee  what  will  become  of  them  in  these  unequal  mar¬ 
riages,  where  a  young  and  fresh  girl  is  ‘flesh  of  the  flesh’  of 
a  man  used  up  from  age,  and  perhaps  from  excesses.  Evi¬ 
dently  she  commits  a  suicidal  act,  more  or  less  certain  or 
rapid.  On  the  other  hand,  experience  shows  that  the  el¬ 
derly  man,  who  thus  risks  his  repose  and  his  existence,  speed¬ 
ily  finds  his  health  grievously  affected.” 

The  time  required  for  the  full  growth  of  the  body,  owing 
to  climate,  temperament,  and  other  influences,  differs  in  al¬ 
most  all  individuals — the  difference  not  amounting  to  any 
great  degree,  yet  sufficient  to  fix  an  age  for  marrying  that 
would  be  equally  applicable  to  all.  Nevertheless,  it  is  safe 
to  say  that  no  man,  having  a  just  desire  for  the  acquiring 
and  retaining  of  health  and  happiness,  should  marry  under 
twenty-five  years  of  age,  and  it  would  be  better  that  he  wait 
until  the  thirtieth  year  before  marrying. 

Woman,  with  greater  risks  and  more  arduous  duties  to  un¬ 
dergo,  and  who  for  these  reasons  require  the  full  amount  of 


AGE  AT  WHICH  TO  MARRY. 


35 


health  and  strength  that  comes  of  perfect  growth*,  should 
under  no  consideration  marry  before  twenty-one  years  of 
age,  and  it  would  be  much  toward  her  after  welfare  if  she 
did  not  marry  until  she  arrived  at  the  age  of  twenty-four. 

The  wife,  owing  to  her  unphysiological  mode  of  life,  to 
child-bearing,  and  the  licentiousness  that  belongs  to  the  ma¬ 
jority  of  husbands,  takes  on  premature  age  much  sooner 
than  does  the  husband,  and,  for  these  and  other  reasons,  the 
husband  in  all  cases  should  be  from  three  to  six  years  older 
than  his  wife. 

A  man,  having  arrived  at  thirty  years,  full  grown,  per¬ 
fectly  developed,  and  desirous  of  marrying,  should  choose  a 
woman  who  is  not  below  twenty-four  years  of  age  ;  and  a 
woman,  at  twenty-four,  perfectly  developed,  ripe  and  lov¬ 
able,  should  choose — or  perhaps  I  should  say  accept — for  a 
helpmate  a  man  not  less  than  thirty. 

The  union  of  a  man  and  woman  at  these  ages,  under  right 
conditions,  constitutes  the  first  step  toward  a  perfect  mar¬ 
riage. 


/ 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE  LAW  OF  CHOICE. 

T  having  been  decided  that  it 
is  not  good  for  man  to  be 
alone,  one  of  the  most  im¬ 
portant  questions  that  arises 
in  the  seeker  for  a  mate  for 
life  is  :  How  am  I  to  choose 
a  wife  ? — how  a  husband  ? 
Which  of  the  scores  of  wo¬ 
men  in  the  circle  of  my  ac¬ 
quaintance  will  make  me 
the  best  better-half  ?  What 
mode  should  I  employ  to 
determine  which  of  all  or 
any  of  the  women  will  suit 
my  temperament  ?  What 
of  love  in  the  choice  ?  Is 
there  a  positive  method  of 
choosing  the  right  one,  and 
so  avoid  after  mis-mated  consequences  ?  Or  am  I  to  at¬ 
tempt  it  ignorantly  and  blindly  ? 

These  and  many  other  questions  of  a  like  nature  only 
sometimes  trouble  thoughtful  persons  in  their  reflections  on 
the  subject  ;  the  majority  of  mankind,  in  their  love  for 
wealth,  station  and  pleasure — especially  the  pleasure  that 
comes  of  overgrown  amativeness — are  generally  satisfied  to 
attempt  it  blindly. 

This  should  not  and  need  not  be.  There  must  be  a  law 
as  applicable  to  the  choosing  of  a  life-companion  as  there  are 


36 


THE  LA  W  OF  CHOICE . 


37 


laws  governing  every  other  relation  in  matter  that  goes  to 
show  God’s  greatness  in  the  ruling  of  a  world.  But  man, 
living  a  wrong  life  in  thought,  word  and  deed,  has,  in  his  de¬ 
sire  for  the  unattainable,  so  blotted  and  blurred  the  pure  and 
spiritual  that  is  within  him,  as  to  constantly  break  this  law, 
as  he  has  done  all  other  laws  intended  for  his  welfare  and 
happiness. 

A  brief  glance  at  the  mode  of  forming  matrimonial  alli¬ 
ances  among  the  people  of  different  nations  will  show  some 
striking  peculiarities. 

The  ancient  Assyrians  once  a  year  assembled  at  a  great 
fair  all  the  marriageable  girls  of  a  province,  when  the  public 
crier  put  them  up  for  sale  at  auction.  First  were  put  up  the 
most  beautiful,  for  whom  the  rich  strove  against  each  other, 
until  the  competition  carried  up  the  price  to  the  highest 
point.  When  one  beautiful  woman  had  thus  been  disposed 
of,  one  less  favored  by  Nature  was  put  up ;  and  here  the  auc¬ 
tion  was  reversed.  The  question  was  not  how  much  will  any 
one  give,  but  how  little  will  any  one  take  ;  and  he  who  bid 
her  off  at  the  lowest  dowry  took  her  for  his  wife,  so  that  the 
price  paid  for  the  beautiful  went  to  give  dowries  to  the  ugly, 
an  advantage  the  Assyrian  ladies  had  over  their  modern  sis¬ 
ters,  inasmuch  as  none  were  without  husbands. 

A  Chinaman  may,  and  often  does,  sell  his  daughter  in 
marriage,  with  as  much  unconcern  as  he  does  his  other  mer¬ 
chantable  property. 

The  Moors  betroth  their  children  in  infancy.  The  girl 
may  dislike  or  despise  the  man  chosen  for  her ;  but,  if  his 
character  is  good  and  he  can  pay  the  purchase  money,  the 
hatred  is  regarded  as  a  “  womanly  freak,”  and  all  her  en¬ 
treaties  are  of  no  avail. 

In  Sumatra  men  purchase  their  wives,  and,  if  they  find 
they  have  been  duped,  they  gamble  them  away,  or  sell  them 
for  a  mere  pittance. 

The  Turks  are  allowed  four  wives ;  but  the  wife  or  hus¬ 
band  has  no  choice,  for  they  never  meet  until  the  marriage 
day. 


38 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


In  Western  Tartary  women  cost  from  twenty  to  five  hun¬ 
dred  roubles,  though  among  the  pastoral  tribes,  where  they 
are  cheaper,  a  very  pretty  girl  can  be  bought  for  two  or 
three  roubles. 

The  marriage  of  the  Soongas,  a  Tartar  tribe,  consists  of  a 
race  on  horseback.  The  female  is  mounted  on  a  fleet  horse, 
and,  if  she  permits  her  lover  to  overtake  her,  he  conducts 
her  to  his  tent,  and  she  becomes  his  wife,  with  no  other  cer¬ 
emony  than  a  marriage  feast. 

In  Siberia,  after  the  marriage  feast,  the  wife  pulls  off  her 
husband’s  boots,  as  a  sign  of  her  subserviency.  In  another 
part  of  this  province,  the  bride’s  father  presents  the  bride¬ 
groom  with  a  whip,  with  which  he  disciplines  his  wife  as  of¬ 
ten  as  he  thinks  proper. 

It  is  noticeable,  in  examining  the  records  of  these  and  all 
other  barbarous  and  semi-barbarous  nations,  that  they,  in 
common  with  modern  civilization — modern,  progressive  civil¬ 
ization — regarded  women  in  the  light  of  slaves,  in  the  widest, 
broadest  sense  of  this  term. 

» 

The  custom  of  purchasing  wives  appears  to  have  generally 
prevailed  as  soon  as  the  rights  of  property  began  to  be  re¬ 
spected.  From  the  moment  that  the  rights  of  property  were 
recognized,  everything  was  considered  as  such,  even  to  a 
man’s  wife  and  children,  and  the  idea  of  property  in  wives 
and  children  has  never  been  lost,  and  is  fully  recognized  by 
our  common  law. 

How  of  modern  marriages  ?  To  what  purpose  do  they 
tend  ?  In  what  do  they  differ  from  the  marriages  of  those 
outside  the  circle  of  civilization  ?  The  difference,  when  care¬ 
fully  compared  and  analyzed,  is  not  much.  “  A  man  wants 
a  cook,  washerwoman,  housekeeper ;  he  wants  a  woman  to 
contribute  to  his  happiness,  and  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  his 
perverted  nature.  He  wants  a  wife  because  Nature  designed 
the  union  of  the  sexes.  But,  instead  of  learning  the  divinity 
of  .sw//- marriage,  he  has  only  been  taught  the  marriage 
recognized  by  law  and  theology — material  unions,  for  fame, 
home-comforts,  position,  etc. 


THE  LAW  OF  CHOICE. 


39 


“And  how  does  he  choose  a  wife?  He  looks  about 
among  the  girls  in  his  own  sphere,  and  selects  the  one  best 
suited  to  his  interests.  In  his  best  attire  he  goes  wooing  the 
fair  maiden.  Like  persons  in  a  masquerade,  they  flirt  and 
say  soft  and  sentimental  things,  without  knowing  anything 
about  the  brain  behind  the  mask.  After  a  few  flirtations, 
the  wife-seeker  proposes  himself  in  marriage,  and  the  woman, 
often  by  virtue  of  necessity,  accepts  the  offer.  The  two  go 
to  a  minister  or  magistrate,  when  the  man  promises  support, 
and  the  woman  obedience.” 

The  results  of  such  marriages  are  every  day  demonstra¬ 
ble.  Before  the  honeymoon  has  well  reached  its  full,  indi¬ 
cations — at  first  slight — commence  to  crop  out  that  life  has 
in  it  some  gall,  and  as  the  cloyed  sweetness  of  the  animal 
pleasures  wears  off,  and  life  in  its  practical,  every-day  aspect 
appears,  the  gall  and  wormwood  is  tasted  in  all  its  positive 
bitterness,  and  matched  but  not  mated  life  is  but  a  series  of 
petty  troubles,  disappointments,  doubts,  despairs  and  miser¬ 
ies,  splendid  in  the  gilt  and  glitter  of  its  setting,  or  hideous 
in  all  the  wretchedness  of  its  rags. 

And  why  should  this  not  be  so  ?  Why  should  there  be  so 
very  few  really  happy  married  lives  in  this  nineteenth  cen¬ 
tury  of  ours  ?  To  every  man  and  woman  who  will  consult 
their  own  inner  lives  as  to  why  and  wherefore  they  married, 
the  answer  will  be  apparent.  For  every  reason  and  under 
*  every  condition  but  the  right  one  did  they  marry.  This  step 
of  choosing  a  husband  or  wife  has  more  to  do  with  the  hap¬ 
piness  and  success  of  the  individual  than  has  any  other  at¬ 
tainable  desire  in  this  world,  and  deserves  all  the  thought, 
plan  and  argument  that  can  be  brought  to  bear  on  its  en¬ 
lightenment. 

When  a  man  is  desirous  of  purchasing  a  farm,  he  carefully 
examines  the  nature  of  the  land,  and  its  bearing  and  sup¬ 
porting  qualities,  by  rules  and  laws  as  affirmed  by  chemistry, 
and  in  no  wise  need  he  err  in  a  choice  that  will  repay  him 
ample  interest  on  his  investment. 


40 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


If,  after  purchasing,  he  desires  to  stock  it,  he  need  make 
no  mistake  in  his  choice  of  animals.  His  horses  and  cattle, 
judged  from  well  understood  anatomical  rules  and  peculiari¬ 
ties,  and  from  desirable  qualities  imparted  to  them  by  their 
parents,  are  just  such  as  suit  his  requirements. 

But  in  the  choice  of  a  wife,  the  same  man,  if  he  be  a  bach¬ 
elor,  inquires  for  no  laws,  seeks  for  no  peculiarities,  and  has 
no  rules  to  observe  in  his  choice.  Some  habit  in  the  woman 
is  plainly  observable — she  is  strong,  or  perchance  fine-look¬ 
ing,  or  is  a  good  housekeeper ;  and,  without  other  thought, 
he  imagines  that  she  will  make  him  a  wife  good  and  true,  and 
he  may  have  secured  such  ;  but  the  probabilities  are  greatly 
in  favor  of  the  reverse. 

This  comparing  the  choice  of  a  wife  with  that  of  a  farm, 
horse  or  cow,  may  be  thought  inappropriate  ;  yet  the  illus¬ 
tration  is  perfectly  applicable.  A  man  need  no  more  err  in 
choosing  a  wife  than  he  would  in  choosing  a  farm,  if  done 
knowingly.  The  difference  arises  in  its  importance.  Most 
men  give  exceedingly  more  care,  inquiry,  and  investigation 
to  the  choice  of  a  horse,  property,  or  any  business  venture 
or  speculation,  than  they  do  to  the  choice  of  a  wife.  This 
may  have  an  appearance  of  exaggeration,  yet  it  cannot  well 
be  disputed. 

The  first  and  greatest  error  that  occurs  in  the  popular 
mode  of  choosing  a  mate  is  in  doing  it  through  the  propen¬ 
sities  or  feelings,  rather  than  through  the  intellectual  or  ob-% 
serving,  comparing  and  reflective  faculties,  guided  by  the 
moral  sentiments.  More  unions  are  formed  through  the  ab¬ 
normal  workings  of  amativeness  and  acquisitiveness  than 
through  any  other  aim  or  object.  For  a  man  or  woman 
having  matrimony  in  view,  and  possessing  no  broader  or 
higher  aim  than  the  securing  of  a  home,  wealth,  position,  or 
the  opportunity  of  exercising  the  impure  that  is  within 
them,  it  is  next  to  needless  to  write  of  higher  hopes,  purer 
aspirations,  and  the  rational  object  and  mode  of  soul-union. 

But  there  is  a  rapidly  growing  class  of  mankind  who. 


THE  LA  IV  OF  CHOICE. 


4i 


1 

though  sorely  encumbered  with  society’s  many-corded  tram¬ 
mels,  yet  have  that  within  them  that  longs  for,  desires  and 
hopes  for  a  plainer  way,  a  purer  life,  and  a  more  successful 
existence. 

This  should  be  a  law  with  all  seekers  for  a  wife  or  husband, 
that  in  their  choice  they  must  keep  dormant  that  part  of 
their  natures  broadly  termed  the  feelings,  and  exercise  only 
the  intellectual.  This  will  be  more  fully  understood  and  ap¬ 
preciated  when  we  come  to  what  constitutes  the  requirements 
for  a  perfect  union,  and  the  true  definition  of  sexual  love. 

It  may  be  premised  that  love,  in  the  popular  acceptation 
of  the  term,  as  existing  between  lovers  and  the  newly  rffar- 
ried,  is  a  misnomer,  as  is  also  love  at  first  sight.  Why  this 
is  so  will  presently  appear. 

It  is  necessary  to  a  perfect  union — a  requisite  to  happiness 
and  a  higher  and  more  aesthetic  culture — that  the  man  and 
woman  to  be  married  have  no  positive  traits  of  character 
that  differ  in  the  least  from  one  another.  A  husband,  having 
abnormally  developed  amativeness,  married  to  a  woman  in 
whom  it  is  well  balanced,  is  sure  to  breed  discord.  A  hus¬ 
band,  having  a  deficiency  in  the  moral  sentiments,  joined  to 
a  woman  who  aspires  after  goodness,  virtue  and  purity,  will 
assuredly  make  married  life  other  than  a  success.  And  so  in 
all  that  goes  to  make  up  character  a  similarity  is  necessary, 
to  insure  a  close  joining  of  soul  to  soul. 

If  the  man  have  the  social  faculties  fully  developed,  so 
should  his  wife.  If  the  man  have  a  large  moral  and  relig¬ 
ious  nature,  so  should  the  wife.  If  the  man  possess  well-de¬ 
veloped  perceptive,  reasoning  and  reflective  power,  so  should 
the  wife  ;  and  so,  in  the  selfish  sentiments  and  propensities, 
it  is  necessary  to  a  perfect  union  that  the  man  and  wife  be 
equally  developed,  or  as  nearly  so  as  possible. 

There  may  be  one  or  two  exceptions  to  this  rule — as  in 
the  money-getting  faculty.  A  man  having  the  ability  to 
make  money,  but  lacking  the  ability  to  hold  it,  could,  by  the 
possession  of  an  economical  and  saving  wife,  get  rich  ;  yet 


42 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


as  wealth  is  but  a  minor  requisite  to  happiness,  it  may  be 
doubted  if  such  a  disresemblance  is  requisite. 

The  question  is  suggested  while  reading  :  Would  it  be  right 
to  join  a  man  having  very  large  amativeness  to  a  woman 
with  it  equally  developed  ?  Decidedly  so  ;  for  if  the  man  is 
married  to  a  woman  having  it  small,  the  result  is  disgust — 
ending  in  separation  or  divorce  ;  whereas,  if  both  husband 
and  wife  are  equally  developed,  and  especially  equally  uned¬ 
ucated  in  its  legitimate  use,  they  together  acquire  ill  health, 
and  together  prematurely  leave  this  world,  and  so  allow  room 
for  others  whose  objects  in  life  are  higher. 

Would  it  be  right  that  a  man  having  large  destructiveness, 
secretiveness  and  cautiousness,  and  deficient  in  the  moral 
sentiments  (the  requisite  faculties  for  an  essentially  bad  char¬ 
acter — a  thief  or  murderer),  to  marry  a  woman  having  similar 
developments  ?  In  the  first  place,  a  man  possessing  such 
qualities  of  character  should  not  be  allowed  to  marry  ;  yet, 
if  allowed,  the  woman  should  be  none  other  than  one  having 
the  like  mental  similarity,  if  a  perfect  union  was  looked  for. 
But  you  say,  if  a  woman  of  higher  developments  was  united 
to  this  man,  it  would  have  a  tendency  to  lead  him  to  her 
standard  of  life.  Such  results  seldom  or  never  occur;  it  runs 
contra  to  the  philosophy  of  things.  The  tendency  on  her 
part  would  be  downward,  making  her  life  a  failure  and  his 
miserable. 

And  so,  in  all  the  greater  or  smaller  shades  and  shadows 
of  mental  development,  the  resemblance  should  be  complete, 
or  nearly  so.  The  man  having  well-developed  amativeness, 
a  large  love  of  offspring,  a  greater  love  for  home  and  home 
associations  than  he  has  for  outside  friendship  and  pleas¬ 
ure,  versatility  of  thought  and  feeling,  a  strong  attachment 
for  one,  and  one  only ,  of  the  opposite  sex — all  these  things 
should  the  wife  of  his  choice  be  in  possession  of. 

The  man  having  combativeness  enough  to  resist  imposi¬ 
tion  and  ignorance,  a  full  requisite  of  acquisitiveness,  a  good 
and  hearty  appetite  for  plain  food  and  drink,  a  fair  desire  to 


THE  LA  W  OF  CHOICE . 


43 


acquire  property,  candid,  open-hearted,  truthful ;  large  pru¬ 
dence  and  forethought,  moderately  ambitious,  high-minded, 
independent  and  self-confident ;  a  just  amount  of  stability 
and  firmness  of  character ;  in  all  these  things  should  the  wife 
of  his  choice  be  his  counterpart. 

The  man  having  a  sense  for  the  beautiful  and  pure,  an  ap¬ 
preciation  of  the  sublime  and  magnificent  in  nature  and  art, 
a  bright,  sunny,  laughing  nature ;  the  perceptive  faculties 
fully  developed  ;  a  philosophizing,  investigating,  original  cast 
of  mind  ;  governed  by  the  highest  order  of  moral  principles ; 
sanguine  and  enterprising ;  large  spirituality — reverence  for 
religion  and  things  sacred  ;  a  heart  overflowing  with  kind¬ 
ness  and  sympathy  for  humanity ;  in  all  these  traits  should 
the  wife  chosen  resemble  the  man. 

In  no  way  can  this  unity  of  thought,  feeling  and  action 
be  so  well  secured  as  through  Phrenology — a  science  that  is 
to  do  more  for  the  welfare  of  the  human  race  than  any  here¬ 
tofore  or  hereafter  to  be  discovered.  Through  the  right  ap¬ 
plication  of  this  wonderful  science,  no  mistake  need  be  made 
in  wife  or  husband-choosing,  no  risks  need  be  run  and  no 
doubts  need  be  entertained,  but  all  is  made  clear  as  the  truths 
of  which  it  is  the  exponent.  Masks  avail  nothing — decep¬ 
tion,  hypocrisy  and  untruth  avail  nothing — under  the  search¬ 
ing  analysis  of  the  brain’s  soul-chambers. 

“  But  I  don’t  believe  in  Phrenology  !” 

Then  you  have  my  sympathy ;  and  my  advice  to  you,  and 
all  who  think  alike,  is  to  study  and  cultivate  the  higher  or¬ 
ders  of  your  nature,  and  grow  into  the  belief  of  this  science 
of  the  mind,  and  so  claim  brotherhood  with  the  progressive 
army  of  noble  workers,  whose  motto  is  “Onward  and  up¬ 
ward.” 

George  Stearns,  in  a  little  work  on  “  How  to  Marry,” 
gives  the  following  rules  as  a  guide  to  conjugal  harmony  : 

“  Marry  your  conjugal  mate — your  personal  duplicate — 
your  approximate  equal  in  development,  and  your  like — 

i.  In  Age.  The  old  and  young  are  as  non-intermarri- 
ageable  as  black  and  white. 


44 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


“  2.  In  Temper.  They  who  love  spiritually  should  not 
marry  such  as  love  carnally.  Between  Platonic  and  Epicu¬ 
rean  lovers  no  fellowship  is  possible. 

“3.  In  Intelligence.  A  simpleton  is  a  poor  associate  for  a 
sage,  as  well  as  a  clown  for  a  scholar. 

“  4.  In  Sentiment.  Let  not  progressives  consort  with 
conservatives.  A  liberal  soul  cannot  be  harmoniously  mar¬ 
ried  to  a  bigot. 

“  5.  In  Devotion.  A  husband  and  wife  should  have  but 
one  sanctuary,  whether  it  be  under  a  steeple,  or  be  roofed 
only  by  the  broad  canopy  of  heaven. 

“  6.  In  Taste.  A  tidy  woman  cannot  admire  a  sloven ; 
and  every  man  who  has  an  eye  to  port  abhors  a  slattern. 

“7.  In  Habitudes.  A  vegetarian,  at  the  table  of  a  pork- 
eater,  remembers  the  fox  that  dined  with  a  stork.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Will-ey  don’t  sleep  together,  because  he  eschews  feath¬ 
ers  and  she  can’t  endure  straw. 

“  8.  As  to  the  Goal  of  Life.  They  who  are  always  aim¬ 
ing  at  zvhat  is  in  a  name ,  should  not  be  sought  in  marriage 
by  such  as  care  only  for  what  is  in  Nature.  One  who  lives 
for  aught  in  any  calling  will  be  more  successful,  and  there¬ 
fore  happier,  without  a  colleague,  than  with  such  a  pretender 
as  really  lives  for  noughts 

It  having  been  assumed  that  unity  of  mind  is  the  princi¬ 
ple  which  lies  at  the  base  of  a  perfect  marriage,  and  that  the 
science  of  Phrenology  is  the  lens  through  which  we  approx¬ 
imate  this  unity,  one  of  the  mists  of  the  ages,  in  the  right 
choice  of  a  mate,  is  cleared  up,  and  bright  and  clear  as  noon¬ 
day  appears  the  Law  of  Choice. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


LOVE  ANALYZED. 


F  this  mode  of  mate-choosing  is 
physiologically  and  psycholog¬ 
ically  right,  as  all  clear-minded 
and  right-thinking  persons  will 
allow,  then  it  must,  as  a  result, 
dispense  with  the  attribute  of 
love  as  a  preliminary  require¬ 
ment.  And  so  it  does.  Love,  in 
the  popular  sense  of  the  term, 
as  applied  to  the  union  of  the 
sexes,  is  a  fallacy,  and  is  not 
only  not  required,  but  is  an 
impossibility  in  the  initial  re¬ 
quisites  to  the  choice  of  a  wife 
or  husband.  This  may  be  regarded  as  absurd,  for  the  rea¬ 
son  that  we  never  hear  of  a  marriage  (rare  cases  excepted) 
but  that  love  is  not  only  believed  to  be  present,  but  the  uni¬ 
versal  use  of  the  word  is  supposed  to  indicate  that  people 
cannot  well  live  without  it.  And  this  is  so,  in  a  measure, 
but  can  be  explained  by  its  correct  analysis. 

Poets,  from  the  laureates  to  the  village  aspirants,  have 
given,  in  good  and  bad  verse,  in  every  manner  and  all  meas¬ 
ures,  words  concerning  love  ;  novelists  have  written  of  it, 
and  readers,  on  and  off  the  stage,  have  acted  it ;  and  yet  ask 
any  of  these  readers  or  actors  what  they  understand  by  the 
word  love,  and  they  are,  with  the  poets,  hopelessly  adrift  at 
sea.  Verse  piled  on  verse,  and  line  upon  line,  enough  to 
easily  fill  a  score  of  books  of  this  size,  might  here  be  quoted, 
and  an  inquirer  might  patiently  and  carefully  wade  through 


45 


46 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


all  of  it,  and  not  succeed  in  getting  enlightened  on  the  sub¬ 
ject. 

The  great  mistake  in  the  use  of  the  word,  in  relation  to 
the  union  of  the  sexes,  is,  first,  in  its  part  application  ;  and, 
second,  the  supposition  that  mock  love — a  species  of  Mes¬ 
merism — is  true  love.  Perfect  sexual  love  comes  only  of  a 
perfect  union — a  union  of  resemblance  in  mind,  soul  and 
body,  and  this  is  one  reason  for  my  so  earnestly  advising  the 
employment  of  the  reason  in  selection  ;  for  in  and  through 
the  intellect  you  only  can  choose  one  who  approximates  to 
your  standard  of  character  in  all  its  details.  The  union  be¬ 
ing  consummated,  perfect  love  results  as  naturally  and  har¬ 
moniously  as  do  all  the  workings  of  all  other  of  Nature’s 
laws,  and  this  love,  guided  by  the  moral  sentiments,  through 
the  similarity  of  its  component  halves,  grows  strong,  more 
lasting,  pure  and  holy  through  the  days  and  months  of  life’s 
pilgrimage,  and  in  years  its  purity  and  strength  meet  and  af¬ 
filiate  with  the  spirit  of  the  great  I  AM,  whose  presence  and 
power  are  only  exercised  through  love. 

Filial  love  is  only  found  in  those  children  who  were  know¬ 
ingly,  earnestly  and  lovingly  desired  by  the  parents,  and 
such  children,  having  transmitted  them  the  counterparts  of 
their  originators’  mental  and  moral  organization,  will,  cannot 
help,  being  largely  filled  with  love  of  parents — sweet,  ear¬ 
nest,  pure  and  perfect  filial  love.  In  the  increase  of  a  family 
under  like  conditions,  the  children  will  love  each  other,  con¬ 
stituting  perfect  brotherly  and  sisterly  love. 

Love  of  God,  in  its  perfect  manifestation,  is  an  impossi¬ 
bility — at  least  in  this  present  age  of  the  world.  It  is  ap¬ 
proached  in  its  exercise  only  by  those  who  earnestly  strive 
after  and  continually  endeavor  to  so  regulate  their  every-day 
thoughts,  words  and  actions  as  to  avoid  all  that  is  wrong, 
and  to  grow  into  all  that  is  right.  In  the  doing  of  this,  the 
mental,  moral  and  spiritual  nature  of  the  individual  takes  on, 
in  a  measure,  perfection,  establishing  reciprocity  of  soul- 
thought  with  that  of  Christ,  and  so  constituting  love  of  God. 


LOVE  ANALYZED . 


47 


And  this  love  of  God  can  only  be  experienced  in  this  way 
for  sudden  conversion  to  a  love  of  God,  like  sudden  love 
between  man  and  woman,  is  a  misnomer,  and  is  contrary  to 
the  law  that  governs  the  birth,  growth,  and  perfection  of  all 
matter. 

Love,  as  applied  to  the  present  mode  of  courtship  and 
marriage,  is,  as  already  stated,  used  but  in  part.  A  woman 
marries  a  man  because,  as  she  says  (and  perhaps  believes), 
she  loves'  him.  How  ?  Because  her  self-esteem  prompts 
her  to  avoid  being  an  “  old  maid,”  and  inhabitiveness  or  love 
of  home,  and  acquisitiveness  or  love  of  money,  prompts  her 
to  marry  the  man  of  her  choice.  It  matters  not  wrhat  may 
be  the  man’s  acquirements  as  compared  with  hers,  provided 
he  possess  money  and  a  home  for  her.  This  woman  marries 
through  love  ;  but  it  is  a  selfish,  animal  love,  and  is  widely 
different  from  the  pure  and  holy  love  that  comes  of  a  perfect 
union  of  soul  with  soul. 

A  man  marries  a  woman  because,  as  he  says  (and  prob¬ 
ably  believes),  he  loves  her.  How  ?  Because,  through  his 
ideality  or  love  for  the  beautiful,  and  through  his  perverted 
amativeness  or  love  for  the  gross  -and  sensual,  ambition 
prompts  him,  and  perhaps  opposition  determines  him,  to 
marry  her.  This  man  marries  for  love  ;  but  it  is  a  love  that 
is  as  evanescent  as  the  wind,  and  a  miserable  help  to  happi¬ 
ness. 

Again,  there  are  thousands  of  women,  and  tens  of  thou¬ 
sands  of  men,  who  imagine  they  marry  through  love,  when 
it  is  only  a  counterfeit — mock  love,  a  species  of  magnetism 
or  Mesmerism  which  one  party,  knowingly  or  unknowingly, 
brings  to  bear  upon  the  other.  A  few  days  of  wedded  ex¬ 
perience  sadly  dispels  the  illusion.  When  you  hear  of  a  man, 
a  perfect  stranger,  passing  through  a  country  district,  and 
in  the  space  of  say  a  month,  being  married  to  half  a  dozen 
women,  and  perhaps  engaged  to  a  dozen,  these  marriages 
and  engagements  were  affairs,  not  of  love,  but  of  magnetism 
or  love  in  part.  When  you  hear  of  a  seduction,  mock  love 


48 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


is  involved — never  true  love .  When  you  know  of  a  moping^ 
haggard  wretch,  who  looks  as  if  he  were  going  to  hang  him¬ 
self,  because  Mary  Jane  docs  not  “  care  a  straw  for  him,”  it 
is  a  plain  case  of  mock  love.  When  you  hear  of  a  woman 
having  committed  suicide  because  of  unrequited  “love,”  you 
can  be  assured  that  there  was  no  true  love  involved  in  the 
matter — nothing  more  or  less  than  mock  love.  True  love 
NEVER  acts  in  any  of  these  directions,  or  under  any  of  these 
conditions. 

These  cases  will  illustrate  what  is  meant  by  marrying 
through  love  in  part.  Instead,  when  being  mated,  all  of 
the  domestic  and  selfish  propensities,  intellectual,  and  espec¬ 
ially  the  moral  sentiments  being  alike,  or  nearly  so,  in  both 
man  and  woman,  so  constituting  a  basis  for  the  birth  and 
growth  of  perfect  sexual  love ,  modern  love  is  expressed  only 
in  part  through  some  one  or  more  of  the  propensities  or  sen¬ 
timents,  making  the  most  desirable  of  all  earthly  requisites 
— perfect  love — utterly  impossible. 

Another  assertion  may  be  recorded  as  a  support  to  this  re¬ 
quired  similarity  in  the  mental  organs,  constituting  perfect 
love — namely,  that  there  can  be  no  true  love  where  there  is  no 
reciprocity.  The  man  having  large  benevolence,  it  is  nec¬ 
essary  to  reciprocity  of  feeling  that  the  woman  should  be 
possessed  of  a  like  quantity,  else  disagreements  and  no  love. 
The  woman  having  ideality  largely  developed,  it  is  necessary 
to  perfect  reciprocity  of  feeling  that  the  man  have  it  devel¬ 
oped  in  like  manner,  else  disagreements  and  a  bar  to  love. 
In  like  manner,  through  all  that  goes  to  make  character,  a 
similarity  must  exist  to  allow  a  reciprocity  of  thought,  feel¬ 
ing  and  action,  and  the  growth  of  love. 

The  disregard  of  this  Law  of  Choice  lies  at  the  founda¬ 
tion  of  the  bulk  of  the  misery  associated  with  married  life, 
and  in  no  other  way  than  by  obedience  to  this  law  can  a 
happy  union  be  secured. 

Judged  by  this  law  of  required  similarity,  love  at  first  sight 
is  but  a  phase  of  fiction  ;  for  it,  in  accord  with  all  other  of 


LOVE  ANALYZED. 


49 


Nature’s  laws,  is  of  slow  growth  ;  and,  where  it  is  asserted 
to  exist,  it  is  but  the  exercise  of  some  single  faculty  of  the 
mind. 

People  vary  so  much  in  what  constitutes  character,  that  it 
may  be  doubted  if  a  man  and  woman  could  be  found  of  per¬ 
fectly  similar  organization.  This  may  be  so ;  but  it  is  not 
absolutely  required  that  they  be  similar,  yet  it  is  necessary 
that  they  as  nearly  as  possible  approximate  in  the  greater 
shades  of  character.  The  nearer  the  similarity  is  secured, 
the  nearer  is  the  approach  to  a  perfect  union,  and  a  secure 
basis  for  the  birth  and  growth  of  love.  When  such  a  union 
is  consummated — and  especially  if  guided  by  religious  aspi¬ 
rations,  in  the  exercise  and  friction  that  comes  of  united  en¬ 
deavor — all  the  minor  shades  and  shadows  of  difference  in 
mind  and  soul  are  softened  and  harmonized  ;  and,  as  the 
months  wear  on,  the  similarity  increases ;  and,  as  the  years 
wear  on,  the  similarity  is  complete  and  love  is  perfected. 

In  this  growth  to  perlect  love,  there  are  other  things 
required  beside  the  similarity  of  mind.  It  needs  that  the 
united  man  and  woman  have  all  the  physical  functions  in  vig¬ 
orous  and  normal  exercise — good  health,  with  positive  free¬ 
dom  from  pain  and  disease,  for  it  is  only  through  a  sound 
and  vigorous  health  that  the  mind  is  enlarged  and  love  grows. 
Sickness  and  its  attendant  miseries  are  in  contravention  of 
Nature’s  laws,  and  in  opposition  to  the  harmony  and  unison 
necessary  to  love.  A  man  using  tobacco  or  alcoholic  liq¬ 
uors,  and  living  on  gross  food,  is  no  more  capable  of  grow¬ 
ing  into  perfect  love  and  its  enjoyments  than  he  is  capable 
of  appreciating  what  constitutes  perfect  health.  Perfect  love 
is  of  and  from  God — pure  in  its  exercise,  holy  in  its  aspira¬ 
tions,  and  how  can  such  a  man,  possessing  as  he  does  a  body 
and  soul  foul  with  the  disgusting  emanations  of  tobacco, 
whisky  and  wine,  find  a  pure  thought  within  for  its  lodge¬ 
ment.  The  conception  is  not  onlyabsurd — it  is  sacrilegious. 

Therefore,  in  addition  to  the  required  similarity  of  the 
mental  and  moral  natures,  it  is  required  that  a  sound,  healthy, 

4 


50 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


clean  and  sweet  body  is  essentially  requisite  to  the  perfect¬ 
ing  of  this  soul-union. 


“  Time,  Force  and  Death, 

Do  to  this  body  what  extremes  you  can  ; 

But  the  strong  base  and  building  of  my  Love 
Is  as  the  very  centre  of  the  Earth, 

Drawing  all  things  to  it.” — Shakespeare 


I 


CHAPTER  V. 

QUALITIES  THE  MAN  SHOULD  AVOID  IN  CHOOSING. 

)  a  man  earnestly  desirous 
of  being  lovingly  mated,  no 
other  rules  than  this  Law  of 
Choice,  and  its  resulting  Law 
of  Love,  would  be  necessary  ; 
but  to  the  heedless  and  doubt¬ 
ing,  whose  natures  lack  the 
intelligence  and  culture  to  ap¬ 
preciate  the  benefits  resulting 
from  such  a  union,  there  are 
general  rules,  easy  of  appli¬ 
cation,  which,  if  observed, 
will  help  palliate,  if  not  altogether  prevent,  much  after  mis¬ 
ery  in  married  lives. 

Taking  it  for  granted  that  the  man  has  arrived  at  a  mar¬ 
riageable  age — twenty- eight  or  thirty — and  that  he  be  of 
sound  mind  and  perfect  health,  and  desirous  of  marrying,  he 
should  avoid,  jn  his  choice,  any  woman  having  ill  health,  and 
especially  if  she  be  of  a  family  having  consumption  or  scrof¬ 
ula  in  its  organization.  There  is  no  more  important  peculi¬ 
arity  to  avoid  than  this  one  of  inherent  or  transmitted  sick¬ 
ness.  Scrofulous  or  consumptive  women,  with  colorless  faces, 
flabby  muscles,  and  waxy  skins — even  if  they  have  the  ap¬ 
pearance  of  being  tolerably  strong  themselves — cannot  pos¬ 
sibly  have  other  than  sickly  and  short-lived  children. 

Avoid  marrying,  if  possible,  a  woman  of  an  hysterical 
temperament.  A  few  tears  may  be  very  interesting  during 
that  treacle  period  called  the  honeymoon ;  but,  in  after  life, 

51 


52 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


there  is  no  misery  for  a  man  greater  than  to  be  united  to  a 
woman  of  delicate  fibre  and  weak  digestion,  who  upon  all 
and  no  occasions  throws  herself  into  that  incurable  and  mis¬ 
ery-causing  malady— a  fit  of  hysterics.”  A  sound  mind  in 
a  sound  body  lies  at  the  foundation  of  all  that  goes  to  make 
life  a  success. 

An  outward indicationof  an  abnormal,  unhealthy  and  un- 
physiological  life  is  a  small  waist,  whether  abnormally  natu¬ 
ral,  or  caused  by  the  wearing  of  corsets  ;  avoid  them  as  you 
would  the  plagues  of  Egypt,  for  they  encompass  sickness, 
premature  decay  and  death.  Such  women  are  not  capable 
of  pure  love,  or  right  judgment,  or,  what  is  so  essentially 
important,  giving  birth  to  healthy,  vigorous  offspring.  Their 
very  souls  are  malformed  in  harmony  with  their  bodies. 
Some  men  admire  small  waists,  but  they  are  men  who  pos¬ 
sess  but  a  modicum  of  brains — or,  if  otherwise,  they  may 
admire,  but  they  carefully  guard  against  ever  marrying  them. 
If  it  is  your  desire  to  secure  a  wife  that  will  be  free  from 
eternal  nervousness,  headache,  pains,  ill  temper,  and  espec¬ 
ially  if  you  aim  to  have  children  that  will  not  be  sickly  and 
short-lived,  I  pray  you  avoid  marrying  a  woman  with  a  small 
waist.  I  consider  this  matter  of  large  waists  such  a  neces¬ 
sity,  in  a  woman  who  aspires  to  be  a  wife  and  mother,  that, 
to  impress  it  more  positively  on  the  minds  of  all  men  in  search 
of  wives,  I  will  again  repeat,  in  large  letters,  SHUN  SMALL 
WAISTS,  and  act  on  the  rule  of  “  NATURAL  WAISTS, 
or  no  wives T 

If  you  be  a  man  of  full  or  large  stature,  avoid  marrying  a 
small  woman ;  for  large  men,  in  some  way,  have  a  partiality 
for  small  women.  This  should  not  be,  for  many  self-suffi¬ 
cient  reasons,  the  principal  one  of  which  is,  "the  difference  in 
physical  qualities  entails  intense  suffering  on  the  part  of  the 
woman,  and  intense  disappointment  on  the  part  of  the  hus¬ 
band  ;  and,  should  the  wife  bear  him  a  child,  great  danger 
of  life  attaches  to  the  mother,  while  the  premature  death  of 
the  child,  in  innumerable  cases,  results.  A  full  sized,  or  large 


QUALITIES  THE  MAN  SHOULD  AVOID.  53 


and  well-developed  woman,  is  at  all  times  the  most  desirable 
wife  for  a  large  or  small  man. 

In  your  search  for  the  attainable,  avoid  the  ignorant  and 
wrongly  educated.  There  is  current  a  dread  of  the  learned, 
otherwise  called  “  strong-minded”  women,  and  broad  doubts 
of  their  making  desirable  wives.  Let  this  not  trouble  you  ; 
given  all  the  required  conditions  for  a  perfect  union,  your 
wife  cannot  possibly  be  too  learned.  . 

When  I  allude  to  educated  women,  it  must  not  be  under¬ 
stood  as  including  the  so-called  “  modern  accomplishments.” 
It  is  best  to  be  shy  of  women  possessing  such,  unless  you 
may  want  a  singing  or  dancing  wife,  or  one  possessing  enough 
of  the  modern  languages  to  show  her  ignorance  of  them. 
For  the  acquirement  of  these  and  other  similar  “accom¬ 
plishments,”  girls  will  study  for  years  ;  eventually  they  mar¬ 
ry,  and  the  honeymoon  has  not  well  waned  ere  these  super¬ 
ficial  modern  accomplishments  are  forgotten,  and  the  learn¬ 
ing  of  the  practical,  every-day  duties,  so  entirely  misplaced 
and  neglected  during  girlhood,  begins,  under  disadvantages 
great  and  many.  See  to  it  that  the  woman  of  your  choice 
be  educated  in  the  practical  details  of  every  household  duty; 
that  she  be  as  capable  of  cooking  a  relishable  meal  as  she  is 
of  playing  a  gem  from  the  last  new  opera  on  the  piano  ;  that 
she  is  as  competent  to  mend  her  stockings  as  to  dance  the 
quadrilles  ;  that  she  is  as  qualified  to  make  a  bed,  a  shirt,  or 
dress,  as  she  is  to  speak  the  French,  German  or  Italian  lan¬ 
guages  ;  not  of  a  necessity  that  she  be  required  on  marry¬ 
ing  to  cook,  mend,  make  beds  or  dresses,  but  that  she  pos¬ 
sess  such  a  knowledge  of  the  details  of  all  household  mat¬ 
ters  that  she  can,  with  just  judgment,  direct  their  doing. 
What  would  a  merchant,  possessing  a  ship  and  valuable  car¬ 
go,  want  with  a  captain  who  did  not  know  the  practical  use 
and  application  of  every  rope  and  yard  in  a  vessel  ?  No 
more,  then,  should  a  husband  with  a  wife  who  is  not  edu¬ 
cated  in  household  details  ;  and  this  knowledge,'  as  with  the 
captain,  is  used  only  in  directing  and  ordering,  unless  when  a 


54 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


stress  of  weather  or  poverty  comes ;  then  shine  out  bright 
and  clear  the  benefits  accruing  from  a  personal,  practical 
knowledge  of  details. 

Especially  should  you  avoid  being  lured  to  an  engage¬ 
ment  through  a  superficially  beautiful  face — a  face  that  may 
hide  much  other  than  the  requisites  for  a  true  wife.  Deceit 
and  hypocrisy  are  so  universal  in  our  day  that,  by  other  than 
a  scientific  analysis  of  the  brain  and  face,  surface  indications 
and  manners  go  for  little.  Beauty — unless  it  is  the  outgrowth 
of  the  soul’s  goodness  and  purity,  reflecting  in  well-cut  fea¬ 
tures  and  rounded  outlines  the  joyous,  happy  and  bright 
light  from  within — is  but  an  evanescent  affair.  A  man  soon 
gets  tired  of  the  doll-beauty  of  his  wife,  which,  in  a  very  few 
years  begins  to  fade,  while  the  beauty  of  a  strong,  pure  and 
educated  woman  grows,  increases  and  ripens  with  age,  a  joy 
for  ever. 

Avoid  being  misled  through  extravagance  of  ornament. 
Women  who  are  overloaded  with  outre-shaped  ear-rings, 
bracelets,  finger-rings,  and  other  cheap,  gilt  trinkets,  ap¬ 
proach,  in  their  want  of  taste,  simplicity  and  common  sense, 
the  Indian  in  his  paint  and  feathers — growing  away  from  the 
true  line  of  a  simple,  chaste  and  pure  life,  and  relapsing  into 
barbarism.  No  woman  should  wear  other  ornament  than 
the  rich  and  unfading  one  of  a  meek,  pure  and  lovable  spirit, 
save  and  except  the  circlet  of  gold  that  is  the  emblem  of  her 
union  with  a  kindred  spirit. 

As  in  ornament,  so  in  dress — false  hair,  false  “  forms,” 
etc.,  on  any  woman  is  deception  personified,  and  her  inward 
life  may  be  justly  inferred  from  her  outward  form. 

Extravagance  in  dress  is  to  be  shunned  ;  for,  apart  from 
the  costliness  of  such  a  quality,  it  may  be  set  down  as  a  rule, 
that  the  handsomest,  most  sensible  and  desirable  girls  and 
women  are  those  who  dress  plainest ;  for  such  women,  espec¬ 
ially  if  they  be  beautiful,  do  not  require  the  extra  adorn¬ 
ments  of  dress  and  jewelry.  Whenever,  therefore,  you  see 
one  of  the  gaudily  arrayed  creatures  of  fashion,  you  can  ar- 


QUALITIES  THE  MAN  SHOULD  AVOID.  55 


rive  at  a  just  conclusion  that  she  is  not  naturally  beautiful, 
in  either  body  or  mind. 

And  yet  another  woman  to  avoid  is  one  who  is  indolent 
and  constitutionally  lazy.  A  young  man  may  well  think 
twice  before  committing  his  fortunes  and  future  prospects 
into  the  hands  of  such  a  wife.  Though  the  man’s  income 
be  never  so  great,  it  will  all  be  necessary  to  support  the 
waste  and  extravagance  of  a  lazy  wife.  An  indolent  girl  or 
woman  is  almost  sure  to  be  a  peevish,  fretful  one ;  she  has 
nothing  to  do  but  brood  over  her  cares  and  worries  until 
they  become  mountains.  They  are  not  desirable  either  as 
companions  or  wives. 

“  Would  it  be  right  for  me  to  marry  a  woman  who  is  a 
near  relation — say  a  cousin  ?”  This  question  is  being  con¬ 
tinually  asked,  and  deserves  a  careful  inquiry.  If  judged  by 
the  statistics  of  charitable  institutions,  the  reply  would  be  in 
the  negative  ;  for  these  figures  (which  are  supposed  to  be  in¬ 
capable  of  lying)  show  that  a  majority  of  the  deaf,  dumb 
and  blind,  a  limited  number  of  lunatics,  and  a  much  larger 
number  of  feeble-minded  or  idiotic  children,  are  the  offspring 
of  the  marriage  of  cousins.  Carpenter,  in  his  “  Principles 
of  Human  Physiology,”  says  :  “  Out  of  three  hundred  and 
fifty-nine  idiots,  the  condition  of  whose  progenitors  could  be 
ascertained,  seventeen  were  known  to  have  been  the  children 
of  parents  nearly  related  by  blood  ;  and  this  relationship  was 
suspected  to  have  existed  in  several  other  cases,  in  which 
positive  information  could  not  be  obtained.  On  examining 
into  the  history  of  the  seventeen  families  to  which  these  in¬ 
dividuals  belonged,  it  was  found  that  they  had  consisted  in 
all  of  ninety-five  children  ;  that  of  these  no  fewer  than  forty- 
four  were  idiotic,  twelve  others  were  scrofulous  and  puny, 
one  was  deaf,  and  one  was  a  dwarf.  In  some  of  these  fami¬ 
lies,  all  the  children  were  either  idiotic,  or  very  scrofulous 
and  puny  ;  in  one  family  of  eight  children,  five  were  idiotic.” 
There  is,  judged  by  statistical  tables,  just  cause  to  avoid  in¬ 
termarriage  of  relations  ;  yet  these  statistics  are  almost  val- 


56 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


ueless,  as  they  give  no  idea  of  the  hereditary  antecedents  or 
physical  condition  of  the  parties. 

I  opine  that  this  fearful  array  of  idiocy  and  feeble  medioc¬ 
rity  should  be  ascribed  to  other  causes  than  the  one  of  inter¬ 
marriage.  Ill  health,  abused  amativeness,  wrong  living,  dis¬ 
proportionate  ages,  a  low  organic  quality  of  the  brain,  all 
would  tend  to  propagate  the  low  and  idiotic.  If  a  robust, 
handsome  and  healthy  young  man  marry  his  own  cousin, 
who  is  equally  healthy  and  beautiful — all  other  conditions 
being  in  accordance  with  the  Law  of  Choice — and  should 
they  propagate  offspring  under  conditions  recorded  further 
on  in  these  pages,  their  children  could  not  possibly  be  other 
than  strong,  beautiful,  talented  and  long-lived.  If  consan- 
guinous  marriages  result  injuriously,  it  is  because  the  hered¬ 
itary  imperfections,  like  factors  when  multiplied  into  them¬ 
selves,  produce  their  squares. 

There  is  a  family  of  Jews  at  Amsterdam  who  have  inter¬ 
married  for  centuries,  and  yet  their  physique  is  superb. 

To  elucidate  the  truth  of  the  general  thesis,  that  consan- 
guinous  marriages  produce  disease  and  idiocy  in  the  off¬ 
spring,  M.  Voisin,  of  France,  has  made  some  very  minute 
researches  in  the  commune  of  Batz,  a  little  place  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Loire,  which  contains  a  population  of  three  thousand 
three  hundred  people,  exclusively  occupied  in  the  cultivation 
of  salt  marshes.  Hardly  any  outsiders  are  ever  drawn  to 
this  place,  and  the  marriages  take  place,  by  special  dispensa¬ 
tion,  even  within  the  degrees  of  consanguinity  forbidden  by 
the  Church.  M.  Voisin  minutely  investigated  the  circum¬ 
stances  of  forty  families  resulting  from  such  marriages,  and 
has  prepared  tables  to  show  that  neither  vices  of  conforma¬ 
tion,  insanity,  idiocy,  cretinism,  deaf-muteness,  epilepsy  or 
albinism  existed  among  any  of  these  families,  but  that  other¬ 
wise  the  stock  had  remained  very  handsome  and  very 
pure. 

A  remarkable  story,  verifying  the  old  adage  that  “  truth  is 
stranger  than  fiction,”  was  lately  told  of  a  woman  in  one  of 


QUALITIES  THE  MAN  SHOULD  A  VOID .  57 


the  Western  States,  who  married  her  second  husband,  which 
marriage  was  an  intensely  happy  one.  Through  a  chain  of 
circumstances  not  necessary  here  to  mention,  the  husband 
and  wife  found  out  that  they  were  brother  and  sister  ! — both 
being  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  they  possessed  a  living  rela¬ 
tion.  Two  children  were  born  of  this  union,  who  were 
bright,  beautiful  and  healthy. 

And  yet  I  do  not  advise  the  intermarriage  of  relations. 
If  there  were  a  scarcity  of  women  to  choose  from,  the  mar¬ 
rying  of  cousins  might  be  allowed  ;  but  facts  show  the  re¬ 
verse — there  being  two  and,  in  many  places,  three  marriage¬ 
able  women  to  one  marriageable  man.  Again,  although  it 
may,  in  exceptional  cases,  appear  that  such  consanguinous 
unions  are  free  from  other  than  perfect  results,  it  does  not 
follow  that  the  conditions  exist  for  its  practical,  every-day 
demonstration.  Far  from  it.  Men  and  women  will  have  to 
live  a  more  correct,  pure,  abstemious  and  holy  life,  before 
they  can  attain  to  a  standard  of  health  and  strength  that  will 
enable  them  to  marry  cousins  with  impunity.  As  long  as 
mankind  continue  in  this  wrong  course  of  life,  and  marry  and 
intermarry  under  these  false  conditions,  so  long  will  we  have 
among  us  the  blind,  the  deaf,  the  dumb,  the  lame,  the  de¬ 
formed,  feeble-minded,  idiotic,  lunatic,  etc. 

Therefore,  I  counsel  you  not  to  marry  your  cousin,  or  any 
other  woman  closely  or  distantly  related  to  you,  unless  there 
happens  to  be  not  one  other  marriageable  woman  within  one 
thousand  miles  of  you,  and  even  then  I  would  not  advise 
you  other  than  to  remain  single  until  the  arrival  of  some  em¬ 
igrant  train,  when  a  choice  could  be  secured.  The  adoption 
of  this  plan  will  insure  you  against  all  doubts  of  consangui¬ 
nous  results  and  their  attendant  miseries. 

Much  importance  is  attached  by  some  physiologists  to  the 
temperamental  conditions  of  those  who  marry  ;  for,  say  they, 
if,  when  both  parties  to  a  marriage  are  temperamentally  the 
same,  there  will  probably  be  no  children  ;  or,  if  they  have 
children,  they  will  either  be  still-born,  or  die  at  the  end  of 


58 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


two  or  three  years.  If  the  temperaments  of  parties  differ 
only  in  part,  or  are  physiologically  incompatible,  they  will 
have  children  who  will  eventually  die  of  consumption,  etc. 
This  I  consider  open  to  much  doubt.  If  the  causes  of  ster¬ 
ility,  blindness,  deafness,  monstrosities,  consumption,  imbe- 
*  cility,  etc.,  usually  ascribed  to  mis-mated  temperaments, 
could  be  thoroughly  investigated,  it  would  be  found  that  the 
causes  lay  entirely  outside  of  the  temperamental  conditions, 
and  would  be  found  in  the  wrong  habits  of  life  observed  by 
the  husband  and  wife.  If  the  parties  married  are  of  a  suit¬ 
able  age,  perfectly  healthy,  joined  under  conditions  that  look 
to  similarity  of  character,  and  adopt  chaste,  continent  and 
hygienic  habits  of  life,  the  results  will  be  all  that  are  most 
desirable.  If  others  think  that  a  judicious  crossing  of  tem¬ 
peraments,  without  reference  to  aught  else,  embodies  a  per¬ 
fect  union,  why,  let  them  think  so. 

It  is  best  to  avoid  marrying  widows,  who  may  have  had 
one  or  more  men  as  husbands,  whose  premature  deaths  were 
caused  by  other  than  accident,  or  other  plainly  unavoidable 
cause ;  for,  as  will  be  explained  further  on,  they  are  likely  to 
possess  qualities  inherent  in  them,  that  in  their  exercise  use 
up  the  husband’s  stock  of  vitality,  rapidly  weakening  the  sys¬ 
tem,  and  so  causing  premature  death.  It  is  best,  with  Sami- 
vel  Weller,  to  “  beware  of  vidders.” 

For  reasons  good  and  evident,  but  hardly  necessary  here 
to  record,  it  is  advisable  to  avoid  marrying  a  divorced  wo¬ 
man,  or  even  the  daughter  of  such,  or  a  woman  of  a  widely 
different  religious  faith. 

Especially  avoid  all  women  who  in  any  way  show  disre¬ 
spect  for  their  parents,  or  who  dislike  children,  or  who  light¬ 
ly  talk  of  religion  or  kindred  subjects,  or  who  have  a  greater 
fondness  for  balls,  parties,  gossip,  than  for  home  associations; 
for  it  is  a  requisite  in  all  women  who  aspire  to  be  wives  and 
mothers,  that  they  be  possessed  of  large  parental  love,  and  a 
deep  and  broad  sense  and  feeling  of  things  moral  and  relig¬ 
ious.  No  conditions  so  favor  a  more  perfect  union,  and  a 


QUALITIES  THE  MAN  SHOULD  A  VOID .  59 


pure  and  holy  love,  than  does  the  marriage  of  an  eminently 
Christian  woman  with  an  eminently  Christian  man. 

There  are  other  qualities  to  be  thought  of  in  the  choice  of 
a  wife — as  money,  station  in  life,  etc.,  which  the  good  sense 
of  the  individual  will  appreciate  at  their  just  value. 

These  objections  having  been  considered  and  established, 
the  man’s  next  move  is  to  put  these  Laws  of  Choice  into 
practice,  and  much  might  be  said  of  the  proper  use  of  the 
observing  powers  in  this  direction.  A  prime  requisite  in  vis¬ 
iting  ladies  for  this  object,  is  to  try  and  see  the  woman  in  her 
every-day  life,  before  awakening  in  her  mind  any  suspicion 
that  you  may  possibly  be  her  lover.  If  attainable,  become  a 
member  of  the  family  of  which  she  is  a  member,  by  board¬ 
ing  or  otherwise.  In  doing  this,  show  yourself  in  your  ev¬ 
ery-day  attire  and  your  every-day  temper.  Hypocrisy 
should  be  shunned,  for  it  is  dangerous  both  to  yourself  and 
to  her  to  pass  yourself  off  for  what  you  are  not.  Let  the 
rough  points  in  your  character  stand  out  in  all  their  natural 
ruggedness.  If  it  shock  her  to  come  in  contact  with  them, 
the  sooner  the  better.  If  she  turn  you  off  upon  the  discov¬ 
ery  of  them,  so  much  the  more  fortunate  for  her,  at  least,  if 
not  for  you. 

But  there  is  a  more  satisfactory  and  more  positive  mode  of 
choosing — one  in  which  hypocrisy  and  deceit  avail  nothing, 
and  one  which  every  man  and  woman  is  earnestly  enjoined 
to  adopt.  It  is  by  and  through  Phrenology.  Go  to  a  good 
phrenologist  and  obtain  a  written  analysis  of  your  character, 
with  a  fully  marked  chart,  which  retain  for  comparison. 
When  you,  in  your  search  for  a  wife,  come  across  a  woman 
who  you  think  has  an  appearance  of  approximating  your 
standard  of  character,  have  her  secure  a  chart  (if  she  already 
does  not  possess  one)  and  show  it  to  you,  when,  having  all 
her  perfections  and  defects  in  print,  you  can  compare  it  with 
yours.  In  doing  this,  do  it  fully  above  board,  giving  the  fact 
expression  that  you  are  in  search  of  a  wife,  and  believe  in 
this  mode  of  choosing  and  in  no  other.  On  comparing  her 


6o 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


chart  with  yours,  if  the  comparison  results  unfavorably, 
plainly  tell  her  so,  and,  if  necessary,  give  her  the  reason.  If 
the  comparison  is  favorable  to  a  perfect  union,  then  an  en¬ 
gagement  may  be  formed,  and  until  this  precise  point  is  ar¬ 
rived  at ,  love ,  impulse  and  the  feelings  should  not  he  exer¬ 
cised,  but  kept  perfectly  dormant.  Now,  if  the  man  believes 
not  only  in  the  Law  of  Choice,  as  recorded  herein,  but  also 
in  the  Law  of  Continence,  etc.,  so  positively  urged,  he  should 
immediately  after  his  engagement  purchase  for,  or  loan,  a 
copy  of  this  “  Science  of  a  New  Life”  to  the  woman  of  his 
choice  for  her  perusal  and  enlightenment.  The  Author  la¬ 
ments  the  fictitious  modesty  that  prevents  such  matters  be¬ 
ing  talked  of  and  canvassed  at  any  and  all  times  between 
those  immediately  interested,  and  longs  for  a  brighter  day, 
when  these  vital  subjects  may  be  conversed  of  as  freely,  be¬ 
tween  the  engaged  man  and  woman  and  parents,  as  would 
be  the  bridal  outfit. 

Chosen  in  this  way,  it  is  impossible  to  err — impossible  to 
secure  other  than  a  union  that  will  result  in  unapproachable 
happiness,  unalloyed  bliss,  and  is  worth  all  the  endeavor  of 
a  score  of  years. 

Perhaps  it  would  be  well  to  re-assert  that  this  perfect 
choice  cannot  be  secured  if  the  feelings  are  in  any  way  en¬ 
gaged.  Reason,  observation,  and  judgment  should  and  must 
only  be  employed  ;  for  if  you  sink  your  judgment,  and  al¬ 
low  your  feelings  and  impulses  to  run  rampant,  instead  of 
choosing  and  marrying  a  woman  suited  to  your  character¬ 
istics,  you  will  probably  choose  and  marry  a  ringlet,  a  dim¬ 
ple,  a  set  of  white  teeth,  a  silky  eyelash,  a  peach-blossom 
cheek  ;  a  lithe  and  willowy  waist,  a  glimpse  of  a  pretty  an¬ 
kle,  a  chance  touch  of  tender  taper  fingers,  the  lingering 
echo  of  a  winsome  laugh — either  of  these,  or  any  of  num¬ 
berless  beautiful  things,  none  of  which  are,  in  themselves, 
necessarily  required  in  a  choice. 

Cultivate  the  philosophic  in  your  nature,  and  observe,  judge 
and  choose  with  your  eyes  wide  open. 


QUALITIES  THE  MAN  SHOULD  AVOID .  6 1 


Just  here  a  new  difficulty  may  arise.  You  have  canvassed 
the  qualities  of  every  lady  within  the  circle  of  your  acquaint¬ 
ance,  and  even  have  solicited  introductions  to  numberless 
women,  and  yet  you  have  failed  in  finding  one  that  will,  as 
you  think,  approximate  your  character  ;  and  the  next  ques¬ 
tion  that  naturally  arises  is  :  “What  am  I  to  do  ?” 

Do  not  regard  it  as  absurd  and  wrong  if  I  advise  you  to 
do  precisely  as  a  farmer  would,  who,  desiring  to  purchase  a 
farm,  and  having  examined  all  within  his  county  that  are  for 
sale,  and  finding  none  that  will  suit  him — he  advertises. 
Comparisons  are,  as  a  rule,  allowed  to  be  odious.  Compari¬ 
son,  in  this  connection,  I  allow  to  be  just  and  applicable. 
The  world,  in  its  progressive,  onward  march,  with  its  thor¬ 
ough  intermixture  of  race  and  quality,  offers  a  broader  and 
wider  field  for  the  selection  of  a  rightly  constituted  mate, 
than  does  the  narrow  field  of  a  village  or  city  ward,  and  the 
people  of  this  wide-world  area  can  in  no  better  way  be 
reached  than  through  the  advertising  columns  of  the  news¬ 
paper. 

You  draw  up  an  advertisement,  stating  in  as  few  words  as 
possible  your  idiosyncrasies,  and  inviting  replies  from  only 
those  who  imagine  they  approach  your  standard  of  charac¬ 
ter.  You  insert  it  in  one  or  more  papers  of  large  circula¬ 
tion,  and  it  is  read  by  thousands  of  marriageable  women, 
and  among  them,  it  is  possible,  the  one  who  would  make  you 
an  unapproachable  mate,  and  who,  of  course,  could  not  pos¬ 
sibly  have  ever  heard  of  you  other  than  in  this  way.  A  cor¬ 
respondence  is  commenced  with  a  score  or  more  of  those 
having  an  appearance  of  suiting ;  a  phrenological  analysis  of 
the  character  of  each  is  requested  by  you,  and  which,  being 
received,  is  compared  and  returned  ;  presently  the  right  one 
is  discovered,  and  an  engagement  follows. 

There  is  much  that  could  be  said  in  favor  of  this  mode  of 
selection,  the  best  of  which  is  that  it  prevents  the  feelings 
being  engaged  in  the  choice,  which  of  itself  is  an  eloquent 
and  convincing  argument  in  its  favor.  It  allows  an  im- 


6  2 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


mensely  wide  field  for  a  right  selection,  and  in  a  dispassion¬ 
ate  and  philosophical  manner,  each  correspondent  acting  on 
the  Law  of  Choice,  and  in  writing  unfolding  each  other’s  char¬ 
acteristic  traits  ;  or,  what  is  more  preferable,  more  desirable, 
and  requiring  a  much  shorter  correspondence,  temporarily 
exchanging  and  comparing  phrenological  charts  of  character. 
They  encompass  ends  that  in  no  other  way  could  be  ap¬ 
proached. 

And  something  might  be  said  against  this  mode.  Char¬ 
acters  of  impure 'formation  might  adopt, — probably  have 
adopted  this  way  of  securing  a  victim  to  their  lustful 
natures.  This  is  allowed  ;  but  this  rule  is  applicable,  in  a 
hundred  times  its  intensity,  to  the  usual  mode  of  choice  ;  and 
no  such  wrong  results  need  occur,  if  care  is  only  observed. 
An  undesirable  termination  is  less  likely  to  occur  in  this  way 
than  in  any  other,  if  a  few  plain  rules  are  observed.  In  this 
direction,  as  in  all  other  directions  socially,  woman  is  gener¬ 
ally  the  wronged  party  and  man  the  wrong-doer,  and,  I  pre¬ 
sume,  will  continue  to  be,  until  women  are  educated  to  a 
higher  and  purer  standard  of  life.  The  exercise  of  com¬ 
mon  sense — a  sense  termed  common,  yet  so  very,  very 
rare — and  the  observance  of  the  ordinary  rules  of  right  and 
wrong,  will  be  a  sufficient  guard  against  all  undesirable  re¬ 
sults. 

Therefore,  I  record  and  advise  that,  if  you  desire 
a  woman  as  a  wife  who  approaches  or  duplicates  your 
physical  and  mental  characteristics,  and  cannot  find  such 
in  the  circle  of  your  acquaintance,  that  you  advertise — 
advertise  thoroughly  and  continuously,  and  in  papers  of  all 
shades  of  opinion. 

It  needs  no  argument  to  show  that  there  is  something  rad¬ 
ically  wrong  in  the  present  mode  of  mate-choosing.  The 
every-day  records  of  family  quarrels,  scandals,  separations 
and  divorces,  too  sadly  prove  the  fact  that  the  present  meth¬ 
od  of  forming  matrimonial  alliances  must  in  some  measure 
be  changed,  if  a  happy  and  enjoyable  married  existence  is 


QUALITIES  THE  MAN  SHOULD  A  VOID.  63 


desired.  That  the  adoption  of  Phrenology  and  advertising 
can  make  matters  worse  is  simply  absurd,  as  all  right-think¬ 
ing  persons  must  allow ;  and  so  I  repeat  the  assertion,  that 
to  secure  a  perfect  love-union  the  parties  should  use  Phre¬ 
nology  as  a  guide,  and — failing  to  secure  a  choice  in  the  cir¬ 
cle  of  their  acquaintances — that  they  use  the  advertising  col¬ 
umns  of  a  widely  circulated  newspaper. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


QUALITIES  THE  WOMAN  SHOULD  AVOID  IN  CHOOSING. 

S  there  are  qualities  in  women 
which  men  in  their  choice  should 
be  careful  to  avoid,  so  there  are 
qualities,  positive  and  lasting  in 
their  effects,  which  women  who 
desire  a  happy  married  existence 
should  be  especially  careful  to 
avoid  in  men. 

Women  do  not  as  yet  possess 
the  privilege  of  making  marriage 
proposals,  but  they  do  in  the 
very  broadest  sense  of  the  word 
choose  the  one  whom  they  pre¬ 
fer,  and  this  choice,  affecting  so  vitally  their  welfare,  should 
be  positive  in  its  enlightened  exercise.  Though  marriage 
and  parentage  are  the  purposed  intention  of  woman’s  exist¬ 
ence,  yet  they  should  not  allow  the  anxiety  of  a  feverish  and 
misdirected  desire  to  constantly  obtrude  itself  at  all  times  on 
all  observers  ;  for  until  the  age  of  twenty-one  or,  better, 
twenty-four  is  reached,  woman  should  do  naught  but  grow 
in  body  and  mind,  cultivating — in  the  quiet  walks  of  life,  in 
the  busy  marts  of  trade,  or  in  the  sphere  of  the  professions, 
as  her  lot  may  be  cast — those  positive  traits  of  character  and 
finer  qualities  of  soul  which  spring  out  of  a  life  well  and  per¬ 
fectly  grown — a  ripe  woman,  truly  capable  of  working,  think- 


64 


AM  A  TIVENESS. 


of  the  individual;  and  so  it  does.  Yet,  situated  as  it  is 
the  lower  story  of  the  brain’s  workshop,  it  is  included  in  the 
preservatives  of  life,  rather  than  in  the  observing,  reflecting 
and  governing  powers.  It  should  be  recorded  here  as  a  fact 
to  be  thought  of  and  acted  on,  that  the  higher  the  position 
of  the  organ  in  the  brain ,  the  greater  the  pleasure  and  happi¬ 
ness  derived  from  its  exercise.  This  fact  should  be  ingrained 
in  the  life-tissue  of  al^mankind  ;  for  it  is  a  widely  spread 
opinion  that,  by  and  through  the  gratification  of  amative¬ 
ness,  the  greatest  enjoyment  may  be  obtained.  This  error, 
in  its  every-day  practice,  has  led  to  untold  misery.  The 
young  man  and  young  woman  look  forward  to  the  time  when 
the  active  exercise  of  amativeness  can  be  indulged  in,  and 
frequently,  impatient  of  the  delay  of  growth  of  body,  quaff 
riotously  at  the  forbidden  cup  while  yet  they  are  boys  and 
girls,  and  so  bring  sorrow  on  themselves,  with  its  attendant 
pain,  sickness,  and  premature  death. 

The  early  ripening  of  amativeness,  especially  if  coupled 
with  its  early  exercise,  is  an  unmistakable  sign  of  short 
life. 

One  of  the  products  of  the  brain  is  a  nervous  fluid  in¬ 
tended  for  the  supply  of  the  vital  power  inherent  in  the  liv¬ 
ing  body.  When  any  special  organ  is  greatly  employed, 
this  fluid  is  diverted  from  its  ordinary  channels  to  the  organ 
exercised.  If  amativeness  is  greatly  and  constantly  exer¬ 
cised,  it  can  only  be  done  at  the  expense  of  all  the  other  or¬ 
gans.  Cases  have  been  known  where  men,  in  a  supreme 
excess  of  licentiousness,  have  made  such  great  and  sudden 
draughts  on  the  organ  of  amativeness  as  to  cause  death  before 
reaction  took  place.  Similar  cases  have  been  known  in  the 
sudden  exercise  of  destructiveness — an  organ  much  smaller 
than  amativeness — when  the  draught  on  the  vital  fluid  was 
so  great  as  to  prevent  the  formation  of  a  fresh  supply  before 
death  ensued,  and  the  man  literally  died  in  a  passion. 

That  the  prevalence  of  sensuality  is  wide-spread,  in  this 
our  day  and  generation,  is  a  fact  sadly  evident.  From  the 

7 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


Pna  at  school,,  who,  with  his  associates,  in  secret  destroy 
themselves,  all  the  way  up  to  the  full-grown  and  ripened 
man  and  woman,  this  curse  of  our  age  is  practiced.  In  the 
matrimonial  bonds  and  out  of  them,  rich  and  poor,  high  and 
low,  learned  and  unlearned,  sexually  thwart  the  chief  end 
and  aim  of  their  existence.  The  abuse  of  amativeness  is  the 
great  crying  wrong  of  the  age.  The  knowledge  of  its  right 
use  is  the  great  requirement  of  the  ^e,  for  it  is  only  in  and 
through  the  right  application  of  this  knowledge  that  man¬ 
kind  can  hope  for  a  purer  life  here  and  a  higher  life  here¬ 
after. 

To  make  myself  fully  understood — by  the  “  abuse  of  am¬ 
ativeness”  I  mean  the  practice  of  self-abuse  in  boys,  girls 
and  men  ;  but  especially  do  I  mean  excessive  cohabitation  in 
man  and  woman — married  or  single. 

The  causes  for  this  abnormal  growth  and  exercise  are  as 
many  as  they  are  universal.  Pre-eminently  the  first  great 
cause  stands  out  as  being  transmitted  from  parents  to  off¬ 
spring.  A  wrong  understanding  of  the  laws  of  reproduc¬ 
tion  affects  the  unborn  more  in  the  direction  of  amativeness 
than  any  other  single  organ.  This  will  be  more  fully  ex¬ 
plained  and  enlarged  on  in  a  future  chapter.  The  man  and 
woman  whose  parents  have  bequeathed  them  such  an  unde¬ 
sirable  inheritance  as  abnormally-developed  amativeness, 
have  greater  need  of  closely  obeying  all  the  laws  that  tend 
to  continence,  than  those  in  whom,  it  is  acquired  through  ig¬ 
norance  of  its  results. 

Next  in  the  list  of  causes  that  conspire  to  a  growrth  of  li¬ 
centiousness,  is  the  perversion  of  the  appetite  by  the  food 
and  drink  used. 

The  large  quantity  of  flesh  meats,  together  with  oysters, 
eggs,  fish,  salt,  pepper,  spices,  gravies,  beer,  porter,  cider, 
wine,  and  other  alcoholic  liquors,  tobacco,  tea,  coffee,  choco¬ 
late,  salted  meats,  pies,  bread  made  from  fine  white  flour 
— all  these  things  have  a  direct  influence  on  the  abnormal 
exercise  of  the  sexual  system.  Tea,  coffee,  tobacco,  alco- 


AM  A  TIVENESS. 


99 


holic  liquors,  and  animal  food,  are  all  stimulating  or  narcotic 
in  their  nature ;  and  whatever  is  taken  into  the  body  of  a 
narcotic  or  stimulating  nature  irritates  the  nervous  system, 
but  especially  the  nerves  of  the  sexual  system,  and  through 
the  reflex  action  on  the  base  of  the  brain,  amativeness  is  in¬ 
flamed  and  excited,  and  in  this  way  come  lustful  desires. 
Salt,  pepper,  mustard,  salt  food,  and  fine-flour  bread,  in  their 
use,  all  tend  to  constipation,  and,  as  a  result,  costiveness  and 
hardened  fceces,  which  irritate  the  nerves  of,  and  press 
against,  the  vas  deferens  and  vesiculae  seminales,  and  so  pro¬ 
duce  morbid  amative  desires,  which  could  not  even  remotely 
exist  if  the  cause  was  removed.  Costiveness,  the  result  of 
concentrated  food,  is  one  of  the  many  causes  of  self-abuse  in 
boys  and  girls. 

Let  any  man  or  woman  who  doubts  these  things  live  for 
a  season  on  plain,  nutritious,  unstimulating  food,  and  during 
the  time  lead  a  strictly  continent  life,  and  after  getting  their 
new  mode  of  existence  well  established,  let  them  take  a  cup 
of  strong  coffee  or  tea,  and  the  desire  for  sexual  congress 
appears  at  once  ;  or  a  couple  of  glasses  of  wine  or  ale,  and 
amativeness  promptly  proclaims :  “  I  am  excited,  and  must 
be  exercised  ere  I  am  appeased  or  let  them  go  to  a  hotel 
or  boarding-house,  and  partake  heartily  of  such  conglomer¬ 
ate  dinners  as  are  served  to  the  patrons  of  such  establish¬ 
ments,  and  my  life  on  it  they  cannot  pass  the  night  without  li¬ 
centious  desires.  I  here  lay  it  down  as  an  undeniable  law, 
that  a  man  or  woman,  living  as  men  and  women  usually 
live — eating  what  they  eat,  drinking  what  they  drink,  cannot 
live  a  pure  life,  cannot  possibly  live  other  than  a  life  of  de¬ 
bauchery  and  licentiousness. 

The  great  provocative  of  amative  desires  in  woman,  next 
to  a  wrong  quality  and  quantity  of  food,  is  dress.  The  con¬ 
stricting  of  the  waist  and  abdomen  by  corsets,  girdles  and 
waistbands,  prevents  the  return  of  the  venous  blood  to  the 
heart,  and  the  consequent  overloading  of  the  sexual  organs, 
and,  as  a  result,  the  unnatural  excitement  of  the  sexual  sys- 


100 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE . 


tem.  In  the  mode  of  wearing  the  hair,  it  is  observable  that 
the  majority  of  women,  adoring  followers  of  the  goddess 
Fashion,  wear  the  hair  in  a  large,  heavy  knot  on  the  back 
part  of  the  head,  and  when  their  own  is  insufficient  to  make 
a  roll  large  enough,  false  hair  is  added.  This  great  pressure 
of  hair  on  the  small  brain  produces  great  heat  in  the  part, 
and  causes  an  unusual  flow  of  blood  to  amativeness,  and,  if 
persisted  in,  a  chronic  inflammation  of  the  organ,  and  a 
chronic  desire  for  its  sexual  exercise. 

Closely  allied  to  food  and  dress,  in  woman,  as  a  producer 
of  evil  thoughts,  is  idleness  and  novel-reading.  It  is  almost 
impossible  for  a  woman  to  read  the  current  “  love-and-mur- 
der’’  literature  of  the  day  and  have  pure  thoughts,  and  when 
the  reading  of  such  literature  is  associated  with  idleness — as 
it  almost  invariably  is — a  woman’s  thoughts  and  feelings  can- 
not  be  other  than  impure  and  sensual. 

“  Something  to  do”  is  as  great  a  necessity  to  womankind 
as  it  is  to  mankind,  and  yet  in  our  towns  and  cities  hundreds, 
aye  thousands,  of  married  men  who,  with  their  wives,  live  in 
hotels  and  boarding-houses,  leave  for  business  every  morn¬ 
ing,  not  returning  till  perhaps  late  at  night ;  and  the  wives 
of  these  men,  having  absolutely  nothing  to  do,  perchance 
take  a  short  walk,  do  some  shopping,  return,  eat  a  stimula¬ 
ting  dinner,  read  the  last  sensation  novel — and  can  anything 
pure  and  good  come  out  of  such  a  life  ?  Or  the  novel-read¬ 
ing  is  followed  by  a  confidential  gossip  with  some  man- 
boarder,  married  or  single,  who  also  has  nothing  to  do,  and 
the  small  size  of  whose  soul  is  located  in  his  amative  pro¬ 
pensities;  and  the  husband  may  not  know  what  follows,  but 
all  acute  observers  within  range  do.  “  Nothing  to  do,”  as 
in  times  past,  as  now,  and  as  it  will  continue,  has  done  more 
to  lower  man  and  woman’s  nature — morally,  mentally,  so¬ 
cially,  and  physically — than  the  non-observance  of  any  other 
requirement  in  living. 

What  are  the  results  of  this  wide-spread,  abnormal  exer¬ 
cise  of  amativeness  ?  How.  does  it  affect  the  growing  boy, 


AM  A  TIVENESS . 


ior 


the  married  man,  the  wife,  and  the  unborn  child  ? — thJ 
health  and  strength  of  mankind? — the  happiness  of  the  iM 
dividual  ? — the  welfare  of  the  soul  ?  These  are  importa^ 
questions,  and  deserve  careful  and  undeniably  truthful  an¬ 
swers  ;  and,  if  such  are  granted  them,  the  horrible  enormity 
of  this  crying  sin  will  stand  out  with  fearful  distinctness. 

It  may  be  well  here  to  re-affirm  the  fact  that  in  coition 
two  important  principles  of  the  life-force  are  involved.  First, 
the  semen,  which  is  elaborately  secreted  from  the  highest 
active  principle  of  the  blood  of  the  man,  and  which  is  capa¬ 
ble  of  giving  life  to  a  new  being,  and  which,  of  a  necessity, 
if  re-absorbed  into  the  blood  of  the  individual,  is  capable, 
not  of  giving,  but  of  renewing  life.  The  second  principle 
involved  is  that  of  the  nervous  system.  In  the  exercise  of 
coition  through  the  abnormal  development  of  amativeness,  a 
great  quantity  of  the  nervous  fluid  of  the  brain  is  used  up. 
This  nervous  fluid,  when  used  in  legitimate  directions,  is  in 
a  great  measure  supplied  or  vitalized  by  the  re-absorbed  se¬ 
men,  or  rather  the  cells  secreted  from  the  testicle  before  thezoa- 
sperms  are  developed.  This  being  so,  the  exercise  of  ama¬ 
tiveness  uses  up  the  very  life-power  of  the  individual,  and  in 
doing  this  the  life-force  of  the  system  is  greatly  lowered  and 
weakened,  laying  the  body  open  to  all  manner  of  diseases, 
contagious,  inflammatory  and  chronic,  insuring  an  existence 
weak  and  sickly,  a  life  a  great  and  miserable  failure,  and  a 
death  early  and  painful. 

To  prove  these  physiological  facts,  it  is  only  necessary  to 
record  a  few  every-day  illustrations  of  the  abuse  of  amative¬ 
ness. 

The  boy  in  school,  or  the  young  man  out  of  school — im¬ 
patient  of  slow  growth  and  the  legitimate  exercise  of  ama¬ 
tiveness,  by  example,  or  instinct  bequeathed  him  by  his  pa¬ 
rents — practices  and  delights  in  self-abuse ;  and,  without 
knowing  of  the  fearful  penalty  in  store  for  him,  he  continues 
it,  until,  as  in  thousands  of  cases,  idiocy,  insanity,  or  death 
sets  in,  and  his  parents  or  friends  account  for  his  ill  health 


02 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


lid  premature  death  as  being  caused  by  consumption,  or 
■lie  zither  disease  of  a  like  nature.  These  sad  facts  apply 
Pfch  equal  force  to  the  girls  and  young  women,  though  per¬ 
haps  not  in  the  same  ratio. 

If  self-abuse  leads  to  such  great  and  wretched  results,  no 
less  does  the  promiscuous  indulgence  by  the  young  or  aged, 
married  or  unmarried.  How  sadly  must  the  high  and  holier 
part  of  a  man’s  nature  be  lowered  who  can,  without  the 
smallest  whisperings  of  conscience,  enter  the  den  or  palace 
of  a  professed  prostitute,  or  the  room  of  a  “  kept”  mistress  ! 
Where  are  the  thoughts,  the  feelings,  the  souls  of  such  men  ? 
Have  they  mothers  loving  and  true  ? — sisters  affectionate 
and  pure  ? — wives  confiding  and  sincere  ?  Apart  from  the 
degradation  of  soul,  do  such  men  know  the  risks  they  run  ? 
Do  they  know  that  every  ninety-nine  such  women  out  of  a 
hundred  are  more  or  less  diseased  ? — that  over  fifty  per  cent, 
of  the  women  who  ply  the  vocation  that  leads  to  destruc¬ 
tion  have  syphilis  ? — and  that  this  dread  disease,  once  in  the 
system,  is  there  for  ever}  and  if  they  have  offspring  their  chil¬ 
dren’s  children  will  have  taints  of  it  ?  One  of  the  saddest 
of  sad  cases  to  me  was  that  of  a  boy  five  years  of  age — 
bright,  intelligent  and  beautiful — a  boy  whom  to  see  was  to 
love.  On  his  being  requested  to  open  his  mouth,  it  was 
seen  that  nearly  the  whole  of  the  upper  part  of  the  roof  of 
his  mouth  had  been  eaten  away  by  syphilis.  Outside — 
clean,  bright,  beautiful ;  inside — decay,  death  ;  an  unmer¬ 
ciful  and  yet  a  righteous  judgment  on  the  father  for  his  li¬ 
centious  deeds.  It  is  a  fact  to  be  noted,  that  on  the  first, 
and  perchance  the  only,  venture  into  the  mire  of  prostitu¬ 
tion,  this  disease  may  claim  the  victim  for  its  own,  and  that 
nothing  but  a  life  of  rigid  continence,  strict  dieting,  and  right 
habits  of  thought  and  action  will  help  palliate  its  destruc¬ 
tive  effects — for  all  the  quacks  in  Christendom,  and  all  the 
physicians,  regular,  irregular  and  eclectic,*  can  do  nothing  for 
him. 

This  is  no  overdrawn  picture — nothing  but  plain,  indispu- 


AMA  TIVENESS. 


103 


table  facts.  If  any  man  who  inclines  to  the  licentious  of  his 
nature  doubts  these  words,  and  is  careless  about  adopting  a 
true  line  of  life,  will  come  with  me  into  any  of  our  large 
city  hospitals,  he  can  be  shown  women  in  all  stages  of  putre¬ 
faction — living  deaths,  the  sight  of  which  would  make  him 
vow,  then  and  there,  to  shun  the  broad  road  that  leads  to 
destruction  ;  and,  if  this  did  not  have  its  just  effect,  in  an¬ 
other  ward — in  the  men  there  exposed  in  all  the  hideousness 
of  sores  and  ulcers — his  own  life  and  end  would  be  fore¬ 
shadowed. 

It  is  a  common  belief  that  a  man  and  woman,  because  they 
are  legally  united  in  marriage,  are  privileged  to  the  unbri¬ 
dled  exercise  of  amativeness.  This  is  wrong.  Nature,  in 
the  exercise  of  her  just  laws,  recognizes  no  human  enact¬ 
ments,  and  is  as  prompt  to  punish  any  infringement  of  her 
laws  in  those  who  are  legally  married  as  in  those  oat  of  the 
bonds.  Excessive  indulgence  between  the  married  produces 
as  great  and  lasting  evil  effects  as  in  the  single  man  or 
woman,  and  is  nothing  more  or  less  than  legalized  prosti-  1 
tution. 

A  man  with  great  vital  force  is  united  to  a  woman  of  evenly 
balanced  organization.  The  husband,  in  the  exercise  of 
what  he  is  pleased  to  term  his  “marital  rights,”  places  his 
wife,  in  a  very  short  time,  on  the  nervous,  delicate,  sickly 
list.  In  the  blindness  and  ignorance  of  his  animal  nature 
he  requires  prompt  obedience  to  his  desires,  and,  ignorant  of 
the  law  of  right  in  this  direction,  thinking  that  it  is  her  duty 
to  accede  to  his  wishes,  though  perhaps  fulfilling  them  with 
a  sore  and  troubled  heart,  allows  him  passively,  never  loving¬ 
ly ,  to  exercise  daily  and  weekly,  month  in  and  month  out, 
the  low  and  beastly  of  his  nature,  and  eventually,  slowly  but 
surely,  to  kill  her.  And  this  man,  who  has  as  surely  com¬ 
mitted  murder  as  has  the  convicted  assassin,  lures  to  his  net 
and  takes  unto  him  another  wife,  to  repeat  the  same  pro¬ 
gramme  of  legalized  prostitution  on  his  part,  and  sickness 
and  premature  death  on  her  part. 


104 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


There  are  women — strongly  passionate  and  often  diseased 
— who,  like  such  men,  are  endowed  with  strong  animal  na¬ 
tures,  who,  when  they  marry,  in  the  intense  exercise  of  their 
lustful  natures,  soon  reduce  the  husband  to  a  standard  that 
physically  and  mentally  places  him  below  the  brute,  and, 
long  before  the  fulfillment  of  his  just  allotment  of  time  on 
earth,  he  too  dies.  The  number  of  such  women  is  very 
much  smaller  than  is  the  number  of  men  with  like  tenden¬ 
cies  ;  but  when  women  are  diseased  in  this  direction,  they 
go  much  further  than  is  possible  with  men.  It  is  for  this 
reason  I  advised,  in  a  former  chapter,  in  the  choice  of  a  hus¬ 
band  or  wife,  the  avoidance  of  widows  or  widowers,  the 
death  of  whose  partners  was  caused  by  other  than  accident 
or  well-understood  disease ;  for  when  such  cases,  at  the  last 
day,  come  before  the  bar  of  judgment,  it  will  be  found  that 
these  premature  deaths  were  murders,  and  that  these  sen¬ 
sualists  were  murderers. 

The  exercise  of  abnormal  amativeness  is  known  in  all  its 
positive  intensity  by  those  newly  married.  The  honeymoon 
is  one  nightly  repetition  of  legalized  prostitution,  sinking  the 
pure,  high  and  holy  into  the  low,  debasing  and  animal. 
Think  you,  oh  !  new-made  husband  and  wife,  that  in  this 
you  do  right  ? — that  in  this  you  elevate  your  better  natures  ? 
— that  in  this  you  find  peace,  strength  and  happiness  ? — 
that  in  this  you  grow  into  that  pure  and  holy  passion  akin  -to 
God  in  its  exercise — the  passion  of  love  ?  Do  not,  I  pray 
you,  deceive  yourselves  ;  for  in  this  exercise  of  the  sexual 
part  of  your  nature  you  lower  your  standard  of  #body  and 
soul ;  and,  as  for  love,  no  man  or  woman  can  possibly  love 
or  be  loved  who  lives  other  than  a  life  of  strict  contine7ice. 
This  subject  of  newly-married  excess  is  to  be  seriously 
thought  of  and  carefully  guarded  against,  for  it  is  fraught 
with  immense  danger  to  the  future  peace,  happiness,  strength 
and  love  of  the  newly  united.  There  cannot  be  a  growth  of 
love  in  such  a  union,  for  no  man  or  woman  ever  practiced 
repeatedly  the  breaking  of  this  Law  of  Continence,  but  that 


AM  A  TIVENESS. 


a  mutual  disgust  was  born  of  it — a  disgust  that  in  time  K 
comes  chronic,  and  the  source  of  all  after  mated  misery.  Ill 
should  be  understood,  by  all  married  men  and  women,  that 
the  result  of  marital  excess  is  as  disastrous  to  the  body, 
mind  and  soul  of  the  individual  as  is  unlegalized  prostitu¬ 
tion.  It  is  necessary  to  a  perfect  sexual  congress  that  the 
wife  have  a  natural  desire  for  such,  which  natural  desire  oc¬ 
curs  only  immediately  after  her  “  monthly  sickness.”  At 
this  time  all  healthy  married  women  have  such  a  desire  ;  and 
if  she  earnestly  express  a  wish  for  congress,  and  the  husband 
accedes,  a  perfect  union  results.  But  if  the  husband  de¬ 
mands  his  rights  from  the  wife,  who  only  accedes  through 
dread  of  consequences,  the  effect  on  the  man’s  brain  and 
nervous  system  is  very  little  different  from  that  produced  by 
self-abuse. 

To  enter  more  into  detail :  the  effects  of  excesses — and 
whether  they  be  produced  by  self,  by  legalized  or  unlegal¬ 
ized  prostitution,  the  results  are  not  greatly  different — first 
noticeable  is  shown  in  a  general  weakness  of  the  nervous 
system,  and,  through  the  medium  of  the  great  sympathetic 
system  of  nerves,  this  want  of  nervous  vital  power  is  com¬ 
municated  to  all  the  muscular  departments  of  the  body.  The 
stomach — the  laboratory  of  the  body — first  feels  the  effects, 
and  shows  its  weakened  power  in  its  inability  to  promptly 
digest  ordinary  food.  After  a  time,  should  the  excesses  be 
continued,  dyspepsia  takes  place,  which,  in  connection  with 
the  failure  of  power  in  other  parts  of  the  body,  is  called  gen¬ 
eral  debility,  which  general  debility  is  very  soon  followed  by 
consumption. 

The  fact  that  the  small  brain,  in  which  amativeness  is  lo¬ 
cated,  is  also  the  co-ordinating  or  harmonizing  power  of  the 
muscular  system,  explains  why  sexual  excesses  are  so  soon 
followed  by  a  weakening  of  the  joints,  and  especially  the 
joints  of  the  knees,  a  softening  of  the  muscles,  a  want  of 
strength,  and  a  motion  of  an  unsteady,  dragging  nature,  dif¬ 
fering  so  noticeably  from  the  springing,  strong,  elastic  car¬ 
riage  of  the  continent  individual. 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


.■Noticeably  in  many  ways  do  sexual  excesses  affect  the 
Brain.  The  faculty  of  memory  is  weakened  and  impaired, 
the  person  gradually  lacking  his  usual  power  to  remember 
men  and  things.  The  eyes  are  also  affected  ;  disordered  vis¬ 
ion  is  almost  always  a  prompt  indication  of  abused  amative¬ 
ness.  The  eyes  are  easily  affected  by  night  lights,  and  any 
ordinary  effort  strains  and  hurts  them.  The  hearing  is  also 
in  many  cases  impaired.  Paralysis  of  the  lower  extremities 
occasionally  results.  Neuralgia,  affecting  any  part  of  the 
system,  is  among  the  frequent  consequences.  More  than 
half  the  cases  of  epilepsy  are  unmistakably  owing  either  to 
sexual  or  self-abuse.  Falling  of  the  womb,  barrenness, 
abortion,  and  cancer  of  the  womb  or  breast,  are  directly  or 
indirectly  caused  by  excessive  indulgence  in  married  life. 
Fickleness  of  temper,  irresolution,  and  premature  old  age, 
are  penalties  that  attach  themselves  indiscriminately  to  all 
who  violate  the  laws  of  their  organization. 

It  is  also  noticeable  that  when  any  man  or  woman  is  af¬ 
fected  with  any  of  these  maladies,  their  relatives,  friends,  and 
even  physicians,  ascribe  the  effect  to  an  entirely  different 
cause.  This  may  not  be  done  intentionally,  for  in  a  great 
measure  it  is  the  result  of  ignorance  of  the  subject. 

This  list  of  diseases,  the  result  of  sexual  abuse,  is  but  a 
partial  one  ;  for  in  the  abnormal  exercise  of  amativeness,  the 
great  drain  of  the  nervous  fluid  and  the  loss  of  semen — one 
ounce  of  which  is  equal  to  forty  ounces  of  blood  in  any  other 
part  of  the  body — so  lowers  the  life-force  as  to  form  the 
foundation  for,  and  lay  open  the  system  to,  all  manner  of 
contagious,  acute  and  chronic  diseases,  and  in  this  way — 
though  sexual  excesses  may  not  be  the  immediate  cause  of 
sickness  and  premature  death — it  in  thousands  of  cases  is 
the  remote  cause. 

Any  reader  who,  with  clear  and  impartial  mind,  will  care¬ 
fully  read  and  consider  these  facts,  will  allow  that,  in  and 
through  the  perverted  use  of  amativeness,  they  depart  from 
the  true  line  of  life’s  object — the  securing  of  strength,  peace 


AM  A  TIVENESS. 


and  happiness,  and  the  successful  cultivation  of  the  higher 
and  more  spiritual  part  of  their  natures.  The  thinking  and 
reflecting  man  or  woman  who,  through  ignorance  of  organic 
laws,  has  done  these  things,  and  who,  knowing  that  the 
time  on  earth  allotted  for  the  preparation  for  their  appear¬ 
ance  in  the  Great  Beyond  is  so  very  short,  will  at  once  see 
the  great  need  of  adopting  a  ’purer  line  of  life ;  for  it  is  an 
unanswerable  assertion,  that  in  no  other  way  can  mankind  so 
effectually  fall  from  grace  as  through  perverted  animal  de¬ 
sires.  In  no  other  way  can  mankind  so  soil,  foul  and  debase 
the  pure  and  spiritual  that  is  within  them  as  through  the  per¬ 
verted  use  of  amativeness. 

These  facts  being  established,  the  question  naturally  oc¬ 
curs  :  “What  is  right  in  the  exercise  of  the  sexual  instincts? 
How  often  ? — for  what  object  ? — and  at  what  time  should  sex¬ 
ual  congress  be  desirable  ?”  In  the  chapter  on  the  Law  of 
Continence  will  be  found  the  only  true  solution  of  these 
questions. 


CHAPTER  X. 


THE  PREVENTION  OF  CONCEPTION.. 

NE  of  the  sequences  to  licen¬ 
tiousness  is  a  desire  to  pre¬ 
vent  undesirable  results  in  the 
wife  or  betrayed  woman.  By 
those  married,  the  reasons  giv¬ 
en  for  the  wish  to  avoid  child¬ 
bearing  are  many,  aftd  a  few 
of  them  may  be  entitled  to 
some  weight.  Thus,  a  mar¬ 
ried  woman  having  a  small 
pelvis  has  a  just  dread  of  child¬ 
bearing.  A  mistake  occurs  in 
such  a  woman  marrying  at  all, 
or  at  least  to  a  man  much 
larger  in  stature  than  herself. 
Again,  through  constitutional 
or  local  disease,  she  cannot 
become  pregnant  without  endangering  her  life.  Another  of 
the  reasons  why  conception  should  not  take  place,  is  through 
a  desire  to  prevent  the  entailment  of  hereditary  disease. 
People  so  situated,  rather  than  seek  means  to  prevent  ill  re¬ 
sults,  should  be  placed  in  such  relations  to  life  as  would  re¬ 
store  them  to  sound  health. 

The  prime  reason  for  the  desire  for  knowledge  on  this  sub¬ 
ject  is  that  licentiousness  may  have  full  play  without  restric¬ 
tion  ;  and  it  will  be  found,  in  the  great  majority  of  married 

108 


THE  PREVENTION  OF  CONCEPTION.  10$ 


lives,  that  it  is  the  wife  who  desires  this  knowledge,  so  as  to 
guard  her  health,  aye,  her  very  life,  against  the  unbridled 
passion  of  the  husband.  The  pains,  the  troubles,  the  heart-^ 
burnings,  the  sickness,  the  danger  of  premature  death,  the 
woman  has  to  experience  through  man’s  lust  is  beyond  all 
comprehension,  and  if  there  is  one  direction  more  than  an¬ 
other  in  which  “  Woman’s  Rights”  should  assert  itself,  it  is 
in  this  one  of  choice  of  time  for  sexual  congress. 

To  compass  the  end  of  prevention  all  manner  of  means 
are  and  have  been  used,  but,  as  a  rule,  all  tending  more  or 
less  to  the  physical  and  spiritual  harm  of  the  individual. 

The  first  mode  to  be  noticed  is  that  practiced,  or  said  to 
be  practiced  by  a  community  in  the  State  of  New  York 
named  “  Perfectionists.”  It  is  briefly  this  :  the  enjoyment  of 
amativeness,  through  sexual  embrace,  without  a  full  orgasm 
— that  is,  stopping  short  of  emission.  It  is  requisite  to  this 
mode  of  prevention  that  the  individual  have  a  very  strong 
will  and  a  moderate  development  of  amativeness.  It  is 
claimed  for  this  method  of  sexual  exercise  that  it  will  develop 
and  augment  more  pleasure  and  happiness  than  could  result 
from  the  complete  fulfillment  of  the  act.  There  are  two  de¬ 
cided  objections. to  this  mode  of  continence  as  practiced  b 
the  Oneida  “  Perfectionists.”  As  mentioned  in  a 
chapter,  it  is  only  through  the  exercise  of  the  higher  senti¬ 
ments  and  faculties  that  perfect  pleasure  and  happiness  can 
result.  Now  amativeness  is  located  below  the  level  of  all  the 
other  organs  of  the  brain,  and  in  its  exercise,  as  practiced 
by  the  “Perfectionists”  and  others,  the  resulting  pleasure  is 
of  a  low,  animal  nature,  and  cannot  possibly  be  of  a  pure 
and  spiritual  nature.  The  second  objection  is  that,  in  this 
part  exercise,  the  zoosperms  are  developed  from  the  sperm- 
cells  located  in  the  vas  deferens  and  carried  to  the  vesiculae 
seminales,  where,  owing  to  the  full  condition  of  that  recep¬ 
tacle,  they  must  be  thrown  off  in  a  night  or  morning  emis¬ 
sion  ;  so  that,  though  at  the  time  the  exercise  stops  short  of 
emission,  its  only  result  is  to  delay  it,  and  the  effect  on  the 


I IO 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


man’s  health  is  the  same  as,  perchance  worse,  than  if  he  had  had 
a  full  orgasm.  These  two  reasons,  coupled  with  the  fact 
that  not  one  man  in  a  thousand  possesses  the  health  of  body 
and  power  of  will  required  to  stop  at  the  proper  time,  are 
sufficient,  I  think,  for  discarding  this  mode  of  intercourse. 

Another  method  of  prevention  is  in  a  measure  similar  to 
the  above,  and  is  widely  circulated  in  many  small  and  large 
books.  It  was  practiced  as  far  back  as  the  days  of  Pharaoh, 
and  can  be  found  by  referring  to  the  ninth  verse  of  the  thirty- 
eighth  chapter  of  Genesis.  The  least  that  can  be  said  of  this 
mode  is  that  it  is  beastly,  and  not  one  iota  different,  in  its  ef¬ 
fects  on  the  mind  and  body  of  the  man,  from  self-abuse. 

The  employment  of  coverings  for  the  male  organ,  made 
of  rubber  or  gold-beater’s  skin,  is  certainly  effectual ;  but 
there  is  no  pleasure,  either  animal  or  spiritual,  derived  from 
their  use,  and  they  so  irritate  the  delicate,  nervous  mucus 
membrane  of  the  vagina  as  to  inflame  and  weaken  it,  and 
also  produce  ulceration  of  the  womb,  and  altogether  cause 
much  •  after-trouble  to  the  woman.  A  person  once  using 
these  coverings  never,  as  a  rule,  has  a  desire  to  repeat  the 
experiment. 

The  use,  by  the  woman,  of  sponge  or  rubber  pads,  placed 
^gainst  the  mouth  of  the  womb,  to  prevent  the  entrance  of 
the  sperm,  are  somewhat  used,  and  widely  advertised  and 
sold  under  many  different  names  by  quacks.  This,  as  with 
the  rubber  covering  for  males,  prevents  the  very  pleasure 
that  is  the  object  of  licentious  people  ;  for  it  is  the  coming 
together  of  the  extremely  delicate  and  sensitive  glands  of  the 
male  organ  with  the  highly  nervous  and  sensitive  lips  of  the 
mouth  of  the  uterus  that  constitutes  the  highest  pleasure  of 
the  sexual  act,  and  sponge,  rubber,  or  other  substances,  ef¬ 
fectually  prevent  enjoyment.  Owing  to  the  very  liable  mis¬ 
placement  of  the  sponge,  or  other  pad,  by  action,  it  is  not 
in  any  sense  a  reliable  method. 

Another  mode  of  prevention,  and  one  widely  advocated 
by  latter-day  physiologists,  is  that  founded  on  the  theory  of 


THE  PREVENTION  OF  CONCEPTION  hi 


the  monthly  arrival  at  and  departure  from  the  womb  of  the 
-ovum.  During  each  menstrual  period  an  ovum  ripens,  is 
carried  to  the  uterus,  and  in  from  eight  to  fourteen  days  is 
passed  off.  This  allows  about  two  weeks  in  which  the  ute¬ 
rus  contains  no  germ-cell,  and  during  which  time,  if  sexual 
intercourse  is  had,  no  impregnation  can  follow.  This,  hav¬ 
ing  a  physiological  basis,  has  an  appearance  of  being  free 
from  dreaded  results.  But  there  are  causes  that  would 
thwart  this  theory.  It  requires,  for  a  perfect  sexual  con¬ 
gress,  that  the  man  and  woman  have  each  the  feeling  and 
desire  for  such — anything  differing  from  this  is,  as  already 
mentioned,  as  hurtful  to  the  man  as  is  self-abuse — and  the 
woman,  in  her  unfilled  desire,  must,  as  a  natural  seque*xce, 
get  sexually  excited.  This  excitement  hastens  the  prema¬ 
ture  ripening  and  meeting  of  the  germ-cell  with  the  sperm¬ 
cell,  and  impregnation  results,  though  intercourse  does  oc¬ 
cur  in  the  specified  two-weeks’  absence  of  the  egg  from  the 
uterus.  But  if  the  woman — as  nearly  all  women  do  who  are 
used  by  their  husbands  simply  as  chattels — lie  passive  and 
motionless,  the  husband  may  have  intercourse  and  no  im¬ 
pregnation  follow.  As  to  the  possible  pleasure  to  him  of 
such  a  union,  he  might  as  well  practice  solitary  indulgence, 
for  the  one  could  not  possibly  do  him  more  harm  than  the 
other. 

During  lactation,  when  the  mother  is  nursing  her  babe,  it 
is  popularly  supposed  that  sexual  intercourse  can  be  had 
with  impunity.  This  is  a  great  error,  as  many  find  to  their 
surprise.  Through  the  excitement  of  the  act  in  the  woman, 
the  ovaries  are  affected,  an  egg  is  ripened  and  thrown  off, 
and  impregnation  results.  The  nerve-force  of  the  sexual  or¬ 
ganism  being  expended  in  the  mammary  glands,  prevents 
the  usual  indications  of  menstruation,  and  renders  it  impos¬ 
sible  to  know  when  an  egg  has  ripened. 

Another  method  of  prevention  to  be  noticed  is  that  by  the 
use  of  the  syringe,  and  the  injection  of  cold  water  immedi¬ 
ately  after  intercourse.  This  may  or  may  not  be  successful, 


I  12 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE . 


and  there  is  really  nothing  reliable  in  it ;  beside,  the  injec¬ 
tion  of  cold  water  into  a  cavity  of  such  a  high  temperature 
as  the  vagina,  carries  with  it  much  injury  to  the  woman. 

The  same  objections  hold  good  when  with  the  water  is  dis¬ 
solved  any  of  the  many  powders  used  for  such  purposes, 
with  this  addition — that  it  is  much  more  damaging  to  the 
vitality  of  the  part  than  when  water  is  used  alone. 

Water — alone  or  with  drugs — only  has  an  effect  upon  the 
semen  in  the  vagina ;  for  if  but  one  zoosperm  enters  the  ute¬ 
rus,  the  injection  of  water  fails. 

There  are  other  methods  of  prevention,  and  some  of  them 
more  disastrous  in  their  effects  than  any  enumerated,  the 
rationale  of  which  it  is  needless  to  mention. 

There  is  but  one  positively  sure  method  of  preventing  con¬ 
ception — one  within  the  reach  of  all,  and  which  has  no  bad 
effects  afterward,  and  that  is  to  refrain  from  the  sexual  act . 

And  this  is  not  at  all  difficult,  if  the  parties  but  educate 
themselves  to  it.  A  man’s  morbid  imagination,  or  morbid 
desires,  have  much  more  to  do  with  his  licentious  acts  than 
has  the  abnormal  of  his  sexual  nature ;  and  if  a  man  can  so 
argue  the  subject  in  his  own  mind  as  to  convince  himself  that 
a  continent  life  is  not  only  a  true  one,  but  that  the  effects  of 
such  a  life,  as  affecting  his  growth  toward  strength  and  pu¬ 
rity  of  mind,  soul  and  body  will  be  immense,  he  will  grow 
out  of  his  ever-present  sexual  thoughts,  and  so  lose  his  un¬ 
natural  desires,  and,  as  a  result,  will  be  able  without  much 
trouble  to  accept  and  observe  the  law  of  abstinence  as  a  pre¬ 
ventive  of  conception. 

Men  and  women  in  all  ages  have  experimented  on  meth¬ 
ods  of  prevention,  and  so  far  have  been  comparatively  un¬ 
successful.  When  an  exception  does  occur,  it  is  always  at 
the  expense  of  the  health  of  the  individual.  Than  this  fact, 
there  is  not  a  more  convincing  proof  that  sexual  connection 
was  mtended  only  for  the  propagation  of  the  species  ;  for  had 
God  intended  it  otherwise,  He  would,  in  the  greatness  of  His 
wisdom,  have  adapted  some  peculiarity  of  structure  in  the 


THE  PREVENTION  OF  CONCEPTION.  1 13 

sexual  organism  that  would  have  enabled  mankind  to  exer¬ 
cise  the  lustful  of  their  natures  without  the  danger  of  im¬ 
pregnation  following. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


THE  LAW  OF  CONTINENCE. 


“So  dear  to  Heaven  is  saintly  Chastity, 

That,  when  a  soul  is  found  sincerely  so, 

A  thousand  liveried  angels  lackey  her.” — Milton. 


HAT  the  mis-use  of  the 
reproductive  element  in 
man,  is  the  underlying 
cause  of  much  of  the 
sickness,  suffering,  and 
premature  death  of  man¬ 
kind,  is  a  fact  that,  stand¬ 
ing  out  sharply  as  it  does 
on  the  record  of  the 
world’s  progress,  cannot 
well  be  controverted. 

That  this  mis-use  and 
its  sad  consequences  are 
due  to  ignorance  of  the 
Law  of  Continence  is 
equally  beyond  doubt ; 
for,  though  there  are  mul¬ 
titudes  that  knowingly 
break  the  laws  that  govern  their  organization,  yet  the  ma¬ 
jority  of  mankind  need  but  know  these  laws  to  follow  them. 

There  is  no  other  law  connected  with  the  directing  and 
governing  of  the  human  body  and  soul  that  so  affects  the 
individual’s  welfare,  happiness  and  success  in  life,  as  does  the 
Law  of  Continence,  and  for  this  reason  it  deserves  all  the 
thought  and  argument  that  can  be  brought  to  bear  on  it. 


THE  LA  W  OF  CONTINENCE. 


1 15 

By  the  use  of  the  term  continence  is  meant :  “  the  volun¬ 
tary  and  entire  absence  from  sexual  indulgence  in  any  form, 
and  the  having  complete  control  over  the  passions  by  one 
who  knows  their  power,  and  who,  but  for  his  pure  life  and 
steady  will,  not  only  could,  but  would  indulge  them.” 

“  Voluntary  and  entire  absence”  is  not  meant  to  exclude 
intercourse  having  reproduction  as  its  object. 

The  foregoing  definition,  involving  the  principles  of  the 
Law  of  Continence,  and  especially  the  practice  of  it,  will  be 
regarded  with  much  disfavor  by  a  multitude  of  mankind,  in¬ 
terfering  as  it  so  essentially  does  with  the  record  of  their 
past  and  present  lives,  for  its  popifiar  definition  is  usually  de¬ 
monstrated  in  a  ratio  with  the  perverted  amative  power  of 
the  individual. 

Ask  a  man  of  an  overgrown  and  intensely  perverted  am¬ 
ativeness  what  he  considers  a  right  definition  of  continence, 
and  he  will  tell  you  that  having  nightly  intercourse  with  his 
wife  is  with  him  a  law  of  necessity,  and  his  definition  of  con¬ 
tinence.  And  there  are  thousands  of  men  and  women — and 
especially  those  newly  married — who  by  nightly  debauchery 
record  this  as  their  solution  of  the  Law  of  Continence  ;  but 
it  is  a  solution  that  involves  in  it  immensely  disastrous  re¬ 
sults  to  the  individuals’  present  and  future  welfare  of  soul 
and  body. 

Ask  another  man,  with  more  moderate  desires,  and  he 
will  tell  you  that  thrice,  twice,  or  perchance  once  a  week, 
entitles  him,  as  he  considers  it,  to  be  classed  as  a  continent 
man. 

Ask  yet  another  man,  who,  though  possessing  the  full  re¬ 
quirement  of  amative  desires,  yet  has  reflected  and  been 
somewhat  enlightened  on  the  subject,  and  he  may  tell  you 
that,  in  his  opinion,  a  man  entitled  to  be  classed  among  the 
continent  men  is  one  who,  like  himself,  has  intercourse 
monthly  or  semi-monthly. 

This  is  about  as  high  as  you  can  get  in  the  popular  defi¬ 
nition  of  this  law. 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


1 1 6 

What  constitutes  the  basis  for  this  wide  difference  in  the 
popular  definition  of  continence  ?  Perverted  amativeness, 
coupled  with  ignorance  of  the  laws  of  life.  Just  in  propor¬ 
tion  as  a  man  is  lustful  is  he  continent ;  just  in  proportion  as 
a  man  has  large  perverted  amativeness,  and  is  ignorant  of  its 
true  use,  will  he  define  and  act  out  a  continent  life.  There¬ 
fore,  this  popular  definition  of  continence,  being  based  en¬ 
tirely  on  the  individual’s  own  selfish  sexual  nature,  is  worth¬ 
less  as  a  just  law  or  true  guide  to  the  disciples  of  a  chaste  and 
pure  life. 

A  true  solution  of  this  difficulty,  and  one  having  unper¬ 
verted  nature  for  its  exponent,  can  be  secured  by  establish¬ 
ing  the  periods  at  and  between  which  woman  should  repro¬ 
duce  and  bear  offspring. 

The  highest  enjoyable  season  at  which  a  healthy  woman 
desires  sexual  congress  is  immediately  following  the  cessa¬ 
tion  of  her  monthly  menses,  and  this  is  the  season  in  which 
the  reproductive  element  is  most  intensified,  and  when  her 
whole  organism  is  ready  to  take  on  the  loving  and  holy  du¬ 
ties  of  reproduction — the  originating  and  developing  of  a 
new  life. 

The  man  and  wife  come  together  at  this  period  with  the 
desire  for  offspring ;  impregnation  and  conception  follow, 
and  from  that  time  until  the  mother  has  again  menstruated 
— which  occurs  after  the  weaning  of  the  child,  and  which  in 
duration  extends  to  about  eighteen  or  twenty-one  months — 
sexual  intercourse  should  not  be  had  by  either  husband  or 
wife. 

“  Do  you  mean  that  the  man  should  have  no  sexual  inter¬ 
course  for  twenty-one  months  ?” 

That  is  precisely  what  is  meant — precisely  what  Nature 
intended.  This  is  the  only  true  solution  of  God's  divine  law 
in  the  government  of  the  reproductive  element  in  mankind , 
and  no  man,  since  the  time  of  Adam,  has  in  the  remotest 
manner  broken  this  law,  but  has  in  some  measure  suffered 
the  just  penalty  attached  to  it. 


THE  LA  W  OF  CONTINENCE . 


ii  7 


Though  twenty-one  months  is  the  limit  fixed  for  a  life 
of  purity  and  strict  continence  between  the  man  and  wife,  I 
believe  in  a  yet  further  extension  of  time.  The  twenty-one 
months  of  reproductive  effort,  on  the  part  of  the  mother, 
necessarily  in  a  measure  lowers  her  vital  powers,  and  there¬ 
fore,  after  weaning,  she  should  be  allowed  at  least  from  one 
year  to  fifteen  months  to  rest  and  recuperate.  This  may  not 
be  required  in  a  perfectly  healthy  woman,  but  healthy  wo¬ 
men  being  an  exception,  the  rule  holds  good.  This  would 
create  an  interval  of  nearly  three  years  in  which  no  inter¬ 
course  should  be  had  by  the  husband  or  wife,  and  in  those 
who  faithfully  observe  this  rule  is  found  the  only  strictly  con¬ 
tinent  of  mankind. 

“  What  if  the  mother  should  either  not  want  to,  or  not  be 
able  to  nurse  her  child  ?” 

The  woman  who  lacks  the  desire  to  nurse  her  child  has 
a  something  connected  with  the  formation  of  her  soul  that  is 
radically  wrong  or  greatly  deformed,  and  the  woman  who, 
through  ill  health  or  other  cause,  cannot  nurse  her  child, 
should  not  be  a  wife,  or  at  least  not  a  mother. 

A  continent  man,  therefore,  is  one  who  possesses  the  pow¬ 
er  to  reproduce  his  species,  and  who,  through  a  true  life  and 
firm  will,  exercises  his  reproductive  element  only  at  the  right 
seasons,  and  only  for  the  purpose  of  reproduction. 

I  know  that  this  rule  is  not  the  one  generally  advocated 
by  medical  or  reform  writers,  and  that  it  will  have  many  op¬ 
ponents  ;  yet  there  can  not  be  produced  in  opposition  to  it 
an  argument  that  can,  in  the  remotest  way,  affect  the  truths 
of  which  it  is  the  exponent. 

What  are  some  of  the  objections  to  a  life  of  continence  ? 
Some  writers  would  have  us  believe  that  because  some  ec¬ 
clesiastic,  monk  or  priest  who  has  inhabited  a  monastery,  and 
who,  because  having  lascivious  dreams,  seeing  voluptuous 
images,  and  having  uncontrollable  desires,  with  all  the  ac¬ 
companying  misery — a  strictly  continent  life  is  to  be  avoid¬ 
ed.  A  man  having  a  large  development  of  amativeness, 


1 1 8 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


shut  up  in  the  cell  of  a  monastery,  debarred  from  all  healthy 
exercise  of  body  and  mind,  could  not  well  have  other  than 
abnormal  sexual  desires,  and  amounts  to  nothing  as  an  argu¬ 
ment. 

Locke,  Newton  and  Pitt,  men  of  extraordinary  power  of 
will  and  great  breadth  of  intellect,  never  married,  and,  it  is 
Well  known,  never  in  any  way  gratified  the  sexual  desires. 

Another  objection  occasionally  advanced  is  that,  through 
want  of  exercise,  the  male  organ  will  decrease  in  size  !  When 
any  such  decrease  in  size  does  occur,  it  will  be  found  to  be 
caused  by  exactly  the  reverse — namely,  excessive  exercise 
by  self-abuse. 

Another  objection  that  might  be  advanced  is  that,  through 
a  life  of  continence  for  two  or  three  years,  the  ability  to  re¬ 
produce  would  be  lost — lost,  as  in  the  above  objection, 
through  want  of  exercise.  This  is  fallacious,  never  has  oc¬ 
curred,  and  never  possibly  can  occur  in  a  healthy  man. 

What  other  objections  are  there  to  the  adoption  of  a  con¬ 
tinent  life  ?  None,  unless  the  blind  assertions  of  over-de¬ 
veloped  amativeness  be  accepted  as  such  ;  and  these  objec¬ 
tions,  having  no  reason  or  other  foundation,  will  be  adopted 
by  the  majority  of  mankind,  who,  through  the  intensely  ani¬ 
mal  and  selfish  elements  of  their  nature,  desire  to  preach  and 
practice  a  life  of  licentiousness  in  preference  to  a  life  of  chas¬ 
tity.  What  are  the  elementary  differences  between  a  life  of 
licentiousness  and  a  life  of  strict  continence  ? 

The  individual  who  leads  a  licentious  life  does,  in  part  or 
in  whole — 

Weaken  his  nervous  system,  and  through  that  the  digest¬ 
ive  system  is  disorganized,  the  stomach,  liver,  kidneys,  etc., 
are  diseased,  and  dyspepsia,  rheumatism,  apoplexy,  paraly¬ 
sis,  and  a  score  of  other  diseases,  assert  their  sway. 

Weaken  his  lungs,  and  consumption  appears. 

Disable  his  special  senses — his  sight,  hearing  and  taste  are 
affected. 

Disorganize  his  brain-tissue — memory  is  weakened,  per- 


THE  LA  W  OF  CONTINENCE. 


119 

ceptive  and  reflective  power  is  weakened,  as  seen  in  imbecil¬ 
ity  of  plan  and  purpose,  and  indecision  of  thought  and  ac¬ 
tion  ;  the  moral  sentiments  are  debased,  the  soul  blighted, 
and  love,  religion  and  God  cannot  dwell  within  him. 

Arrests  his  growth,  and  brings  on  premature  old  age. 

Destroys  his  manhood,  and  the  offspring  propagated  by 
him  are  sickly,  scrofulous,  deformed,  and  die  prematurely. 

And  is,  all  in  all,  a  blot  and  stain  upon  God’s  beautiful 
earth,  a  failure  in  this  life  and  in  the  next  a  - . 

Note  well  the  difference  in  the  individual  who  leads  a  life 
of  chastity — a  strictly  continent  life  : 

The  nervous  system  is  invigorated  and  strengthened. 

The  special  senses — the  sight,  hearing,  etc. — are  strong, 
delicate  and  acute. 

The  digestive  system  is  kept  normal,  and  the  man  knows 
not  what  a  sick  day  is. 

The  growth  of  body  is  filled  up  and  rounded  out,  and  a 
full  measm^  of  years  may  come,  but  old  age  never' ;  for  the 
last  days,  in  their  pleasurable  enjoyment  of  good  health  and 
a  sound  mind,  are  as  were  the  days  of  his  childhood. 

The  brain  is  enlarged  and  perfected,  memory  grows  strong, 
the  perceptive  and  reflective  faculties  increase  in  power,  as 
shown  in  the  ability  to  originate  and  execute,  the  calm,  self- 
possessed  strength  to  endure,  and  gentleness,  courage,  gen¬ 
erosity  and  nobleness  of  character.  The  moral  sentiments 
are  elevated,  love  grows  and  ripens,  and  the  soul,  in  its  ex¬ 
ercise,  reaches  up  and  commingles  with  the  spirit  of  God. 

The  reproductive  element  is  preserved,  in  all  its  life-re¬ 
newing  and  life-giving  power,  until  full  ripeness  of  years. 

This  is,  in  part,  the  difference  between  a  life  of  licentious¬ 
ness,  or  semi-continence,  and  a  life  of  strict  continence. 
Which  will  ye  choose  ? 

That  God  intended  the  reproductive  element  in  mankind 
to  be  used  only  as  a  means  to  propagate  the  species  no  clear- 
minded,  right-thinking  man  can  deny ;  and  when  used  with 
any  other  object,  it  is  a  waste  of  one  of  the  finest  and  most 


120 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


subtle  essences  of  the  soul’s  interior  presence,  and  deserves — 
as  it  invariably  receives — punishment  prompt  and  lasting. 

Knowing  that  a  continent  life  is  the  true  one,  a  difficulty 
arises,  in  the  thoughts  of  those  who  have  led  a  different  life, 
as  to  how  it  is  to  be  maintained. 

Many  who  have  been  persuaded  to  attempt  to  live  a  con¬ 
tinent  life  have  failed,  because  they  were  lacking  in  strength 
of  will,  firmness  of  purpose  and  the  knowledge  of  hy¬ 
gienic  laws.  A  man  who  has  been  in  the  habit  of  using  al¬ 
coholic  liquors,  on  trying  to  abstain,  will  feel  somewhat  weak, 
irritable,  and  exceedingly  nervous,  and  an  almost  intolerable 
desire  to  renew  his  drinking.  It  is  precisely  so  with  a  man 
who  has  led  a  life  of  licentiousness,  who,  on  being  continent, 
will  feel  an  irrepressible  desire  for  sexual  intercourse,  and  es¬ 
pecially  will  this  be  so  if  he  eat  and  drink  as  is  usual  with 
him.  This  is  explained  as  follows  :  his  licentiousness  of  a 
necessity  caused  a  great  drain  on  his  vitality — such  a  drain 
as  required  the  whole  life-force  of  his  system  to  supply  ;  the 
nervous  power  that  directs  this  supply  to  tlie  testicles  cannot 
stop  as  short  as  does  the  individual  in  adopting  a  continent 
life,  and,  as  a  result,  the  receptacle  for  the  semen  is  crowded ; 
this  causes,  by  reflex  action  on  the  brain,  an  intense  desire 
for  intercourse.  But  if  the  individual  has  the  strength  of 
will  to  persist  in  his  life  of  chastity,  the  system  will  be  re¬ 
lieved  by  an  emission.  Now,  if  the  man-  adopt  the  plan  of 
life  given  hereafter,  the  sexual  department  of  the  system  will 
gradually  take  on  its  normal  action  ;  but  before  this  is  ac¬ 
complished  there  may  be  several  emissions,  and  as  long  as 
seminal  emissions  occur  it  must  be  understood  that  the  sex¬ 
ual  organism  has  not  regained  its  healthy  action.  It  is  a 
popular  opinion  that  a  healthy  man  who  is  continent  should 
occasionally  have  seminal  emissions,  and,  like  many  other 
popular  opinions-,  is  wrong.  A  perfectly  healthy,  continent 
man,  living  a  right  life  socially,  morally  and  physically,  does 
not  and  cannot  have  seminal  emissions.  “  Health  does  not 
absolutely  require  that  there  should  ever  be  an  emission  of 


THE  LA  W  OF  CONTINENCE. 


1 2 1 


semen  from  puberty  to  death,  though  the  individual  live  a 
hundred  years,  and  the  frequency  of  involuntary  nocturnal 
emissions  is  an  indubitable  proof  that  the  parts,  at  least,  are 
suffering  under  a  debility  and  morbid  irritability  utterly  in¬ 
compatible  with  the  general  welfare  of  the  system,  and  the 
mental  faculties  are  always  debilitated  and  impaired  by  such 
indulgence.” 

A  man  who  has  grown  with  or  established  a  continent  life 
should  be  very  careful  at  any  time  exercising  his  sexual  or¬ 
ganism,  unless  for  reproduction;  for  “if  any  one  wishes  to 
undergo  the  acutest  sexual  suffering,  he  could  adopt  no  more 
certain  method  than  to  be  incontinent,  with  the  intention  of 
becoming  continent  again  when  he  had  ‘sown  his  wild  oats.’ 
The  agony  of  breaking  off  a  habit  which  so  rapidly  entwines 
itself  with  every  fibre  of  the  human  frame  is  such  that  it 
would  not  be  too  much  to  say  to  any  young  man  commen¬ 
cing  a  career  of  vice  :  ‘You  are  going  a  road  on  which  you 
will  never  turn  back.  However  much  you  may  wish  to,  it 
will  be  too  much  for  you.  You  had  better  stop  now.  It^ 
your  last  chance  !’  ” 

There  is  a  terrible  significance  in  the  words  of  Solomon  : 
“  None  that  go  to  her  return  again,  neither  take  they  hold  on 
the  paths  of  life.” 

In  no  way  is  the  importance  of  a  continent  life  so  clearly 
shown  as  in  the  rules  required  for  its  attainment.  It  is  re¬ 
quired,  in  the  individuals  whose  desire  it  is  to  join  the  noble 
army  of  the  continent  of  mankind,  that  they  relinquish  many 
of  their  souls’  idols.  The  object  aimed  at  is  a  high  one,  and 
they  will  have  many  sore  and  bitter  trials  ;  but  the  exercise 
of  a  firm  will,  the  strength  of  a  new  manhood,  and  the  cour¬ 
age  of  a  positive  soul  will  conquer,  and  so  enable  them  to 
enjoy  the  glorious  attribute  of  continence. 

By  the  individual  whose  earnest  desire  is  for  a  pure  and 
healthy  life,  no  suggestion  or  hint  should  be  overlooked  that 
will,  in  the  remotest  way,  help  to  the  desired  end.  An  indi¬ 
vidual,  be  he  never  so  incontinent  or  licentious,  will,  if  he 


122 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


adopt  this  Plan  of  Life  very  speedily  recover  though  it 
may  cause  him  much  mental  and  bodily  misery.  A  sound 
faith,  coupled  with  determined  perseverance,  will  accomplish 
the  desirable  and  happy  end. 

Plan  of  Life. 

So  closely  is  the  nature  of  licentiousness  interwoven  with 
that  of  alcoholic  liquors,  opium  and  tobacco,  that  it  is  diffi¬ 
cult  to  tell  which  depends  upon  the  other  for  its  stimulus  ; 
but  be  that  as  it  may,  it  is  required  as  an  absolute  necessity 
that  the  individual  give  up  the  use  of  tobacco  in  all  its  forms, 
and  ale,  wine,  whisky,  cider,  and  all  other  alcoholic  liquors; 
for  a  man  or  woman  cannot  possibly  live  a  chaste  life,  sexu¬ 
ally  or  otherwise,  who  uses  these  soul-debasing  articles ;  and 
if  the  individual  cannot  or  will  not  give  up  these  habits,  it  is 
almost  useless  for  him  to  read  further.  No  other  two  hab¬ 
its  so  blot,  stain  and  deform  the  soul  of  man,  made  in  God’s 
image,  as  do  tobacco  and  alcohol,  and  it  is  useless  for  a 
man  to  try  and  live  a  healthy  or  continent  life  who,  in  the 
remotest  way,  continues  in  their  use. 

The  next  notable  requirement  in  this  Plan  of  Life  is  the 
being  moderate  in  eating.  An  almost  constantly-present 
result  of  licentiousness  is  gluttony  ;  and  when  the  first  does 
not  complete  the  work  of  destruction,  the  last  invariably 
does.  A  licentious  person  is  always  a  gluttonous  person, 
unless  when  tobacco  and  alcoholic  liquors  are  used,  which  in 
their  effect  take  slowly  away  the  appetite  for  plain  and 
healthful  food,  and  continue  to  do  so  gradually  and  more 
markedly  until  death  asserts  its  presence.  Therefore,  eat 
only  to  live.  All  food  of  a  sweet,  greasy  or  stimulating 
nature  should  be  avoided.  Tea,  coffee  and  chocolate  should 
be  dispensed  with — especially  should  this  rule  be  observed 
by  women.  No  drink  should  be  used  but  water,  unless  per¬ 
haps,  if  desired,  a  small  quantity  of  pure  milk.  There  are 
three  glands  in  the  mouth  whose  office  it  is  to  secrete  a  wa- 


THE  LA  W  OF  CONTINENCE. 


123 


tery  fluid  intended  for  the  moistening  of  the  food  during  thor¬ 
ough  mastication,  evincing  the  fact  that  Nature  requires  the 
food  to  be  masticated  and  salivated,  and  not  washed  down  in 
lumps  by  tea,  coffee  or  other  drinks.  Pork  and  fat  meats  at 
all  times  should  be  avoided,  and  when  meat  is  used,  it  should 
be  but  once  a  day,  and  consist  of  lean  roast  beef,  beefsteak 
or  mutton.  All  other  kinds  of  animal  food  should  be  ig¬ 
nored,  as  should  also  eggs,  lobsters,  crabs,  oysters,  and  fish 
of  all  kinds,  for  these  have  a  direct  stimulating  influence  on 
the  sexual  system,  and  therefore  should  carefully  be  avoided 
by  the  continent  man. 

Bread  made  from  fine  white  flour,  owing  to  its  very  con¬ 
stipating  effects  and  other  causes,  should  never  be  used  when 
brown  or  Graham  flour  can  be  had.  Bread,  being  the  ac¬ 
knowledged  staff  of  life,  is  of  more  importance  in  the  diet 
of  a  continent  person,  than  any  other  article  of  food.  The 
true  mode  of  making  bread  is  first  to  have  perfectly  sound 
winter  wheat,  free  from  smut,  ground  on  rather  sharp  stones, 
and  unbolted,  which  with  the  only  addition  of  pure  water, 
placed  in  pans  about  two  inches  square  and  three-fourths  of 
an  inch  deep,  and  baked  in  a  hot  oven  ;  this  palatable  and 
delicious  bread  can  be  eaten  while  hot  with  impunity,  and 
altogether  constitutes  the  true  staff  of  life. 

Salt,  if  used  at  all,  should  be  used  in  very  moderate  quan¬ 
tities,  and  pepper,  vinegar,  mustard,  and  all  other  condi¬ 
ments  should  be  eschewed.. 

The  dress,  adapted  to  the  temperature,  should  be  clean 
and  comfortable ;  all  constricting  bands  should  be  avoided, 
and  braces  always  used  to  support  the  pantaloons. 

By  women,  corsets,  garters,  and  all  articles  of  clothing  hav¬ 
ing  a  tendency  to  interfere  with  the  full  play  of  the  internal 
organs  should  positively  be  avoided. 

Closely  connected  with  food  and  raiment  is  exercise.  A 
certain  amount  of  physical  and  mental  exercise  and  rational 
amusement  is  required  every  day.  There  is  no  more  natu¬ 
ral,  healthy  and  invigorating  exercise  than  that  of  walking — 


124 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


i 


and  by  walking  I  do  not  mean  the  mincing,  affected,  formal 
or  fashionable  style  of  walking ;  but  the  free,  loose,  natural 
swing  of  the  arms  and  legs,  and  the  harmonious  action  of 
the  body  in  living,  happy,  exhilarating,  electrical  motion. 
Persons  whose  occupations  are  of  a  sedentary  nature  should 
on  every  day  of  their  lives  take  a  walk  of  from  five  to 
ten  miles  ;  and  when  the  inner  workings  of  a  man’s  own 
brain  are  not  sufficient  to  keep  him  from  noticing  the  fatigue 
incident  to  the  walk,  he  should  have  with  him  a  companion 
— and  perhaps  it  is  always  best  to  have  such,  and  especially 
so  if  the  companion  be  of  a  pleasant,  social  nature.  A  man 
or  woman  whose  occupation  is  of  a  physical  nature,  needs, 
beside  moderate  walking,  a  daily  exercise  of  the  brain-pow¬ 
er  ;  and  this  is  never  to  be  accomplished  by  the  reading 
of  sensation  novels,  but  rather  by  the  study  of  some  of  the 
many  arts  or  sciences.  Cities  in  which  horse-cars  have  been 
introduced  do  much  toward  creating  a  dislike  for  walking. 
Clerks  and  business  men  living  in  such  cities  would  do  much 
toward  the  acquirement  of  good  health  if  they  would  at  all 
seasons  avoid  cars,  omnibuses  and  carriages,  for  no  better 
exercise  can  be  secured  by  such  men  than  the  morning  and 
evening  walk  to  and  from  their  place  of  business — one,  two, 
or  five  miles  of  a  walk  morning,  and  evening,  should  be 
hailed  by  such  as  a  boon  greatly  to  be  desired  and  appre¬ 
ciated. 

The  bedroom  should  be  large,  light  and  well  ventilated 
day  and  night.  Feather  beds  and  pillows  should  be  avoid¬ 
ed.  The  best  bed  is  a  mattress  made  from  straw,  corn  husks, 
curled  hair,  or  compressed  sponge.  No  more  bed-covering 
should  be  used  than  is  absolutely  required  to  keep  the  per¬ 
son  comfortable  ;  it  is  much  more  desirable  to  be  a  little  cool 
or  cold  in  bed  than  to  be  too  warm  No  article  of  clothing 
should  be  worn  at  night  that  is  worn  during  the  day. 

The  individual  should  go  to  bed  at  a  regular  hour — say 
nine  o’clock  (eight  o’clock  would  be  better),  and  rise  at  five, 
six  or  seven  o’clock,  as  is  most  desirable.  The  morning  is 


THE  LA  W  OF  CONTINENCE. 


125 


an  important  period  in  the  life  of  the  incontinent  individual, 
and  the  plan  all  such  should  adopt  is  to  leap  out  of  bed  as 
soon  as  they  wake  in  the  morning.  The  close  observance 
of  this  rule  will  enable  the  man  to  avoid  many  evil  results. 
Thousands  of  men  wake  in  the  morning,  having  the  rectum 
distended  with  hardened  foeces,  and  pressing  on  the  seminal 
receptacles  behind,  with  the  distended  bladder  pressing  in 
front,  and  they  think  that  the  sexual  part  of  their  system  is 
urgent  for  intercourse,  when  it  is  only  their  bowels  and  blad¬ 
der  that  want  evacuating.  This  should  be  well  understood, 
for  the  habit  of  early  morning  licentiousness  is  wide-spread, 
and  in  many  instances  is  caused  in  this  way,  and  it  can  al¬ 
ways  be  avoided  by  leaving  the  bed  immediately  on  waking 
in  the  morning.  If  it  is  six,  five,  or  even  four  o’clock,  rise, 
bathe,  dress,  and  go  out  for  a  good  sharp  walk  before  break¬ 
fast,  and  see  how  much  better  you  will  feel  than  if  you  had 
expended  your  vitality  in  sexual  intercourse.  Try  it,  prac¬ 
tice  it,  and  live  up  to  it,  for  it  will  insure  much  toward  a  con¬ 
tinent  life. 

A  daily  bath  of  the  whole  body  is  a  necessity  ;  but  by 
this  is  not  meant  the  immersing  of  the  body  in  a  large  quan¬ 
tity  of  water,  and  the  splashing  about  in  it  for  half  an  hour 
or  more,  for  this  almost  invariably  has  a  debilitating  effect. 
The  principal  and  only  object  of  bathing  is  for  personal 
cleanliness.  Now  this  can  be  done  with  a  quart  or  half  gal¬ 
lon  of  pure,  fresh  water  in  the  smallest  bedroom.  Have  a 
sponge,  or  small,  rather  coarse  towel  kept  for  the  purpose  ; 
after  wetting  and  rubbing  a  third  of  the  body  with  another 
towel,  dry  rapidly,  and  so  continue  with  the  remaining  two- 
thirds.  This  bath  can  be  taken  in  ten  minutes,  and  as  thor¬ 
oughly  and  effectually  as  if  taken  in  the  middle  of  Lake  On¬ 
tario.  This  daily  morning  hand-bath  should  be  taken  by 
every  man  and  woman,  be  their  occupation  whatever  it  may. 
If  you  are  sick,  avoid  Turkish,  Russian,  Electric,  and  other 
baths  of  a  like  nature  ;  but  especially  should  you  avoid  them 
if  you  are  comparatively  well,  and  desire  to  lead  a  healthy, 


126 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


continent  life.  If  you  aspire  to  rival  the  Turk,  in  his  effem¬ 
inate,  licentious  life,  take  daily  or  weekly  a  Russian  or  Turk¬ 
ish  bath,  with  or  without  its  after-accompaniment  of  coffee 
and  tobacco. 

Every-day  employment  should  be  as  much  of  a  necessity 
to  every  man  (and  woman)  as  is  eating.  A  man  who  is  con¬ 
stitutionally  lazy  and  careless  about  working  is  nearly  always 
a  licentious  man.  An  idle  life  and  a  chaste  and  continent 
life  cannot  possibly  be  found  in  the  same  individual ;  there¬ 
fore  it  is  required  in  the  man  who  desires  to  live  a  continent 
life  that  he  have  constant  employment,  involving  either  the 
healthy  exercise  of  the  brain  or  muscular  system,  or  both 
together. 

The  choice  of  companions  is  not  lightly  to  be  disregarded. 
A  young  man,  leaving  the  pure  associations  of  a  happy 
home,  and  entering  any  of  our  large  cities,  can  without  much 
trouble  form  the  acquaintance  of  a  class  of  associates  that 
will  lead  him  very  far  from  the  pure,  chaste,  continent  life  he 
hitherto  has  led,  and  in  this  way  the  ability  and  genius  of 
thousands  of  young  men,  who  commence  life  with  such  bright 
hopes  and  good  prospects,  are  fouled,  blighted,  and  eventu¬ 
ally  destroyed  in  the  mire  of  tobacco,  women  and  wine. 
Choose  for  companions,  my  boy,  only  those  who  by  precept 
and  example  will  lead  you  up  ;  shun  as  you  would  the  Devil 
personified  those  who  by  hint,  innuendo,  practice  or  precept, 
will  destroy  your  purity  of  soul  and  drag  it  into  the  filth. 

Especially  should  the  continent  man  exercise  and  train  his 
will-power,  for  the  doing  of  this  not  only  enables  him  to 
lead  a  continent  life,  but  it  as  surely  guides  to^  success  in  all 
business  undertakings.  Through  the  right  exercise  of  the 
will  the  body  is  strengthened,  the  soul  enlarged,  and  right 
habits  of  thought  and  action  increase  and  grow  ;  for  every 
victory  over  one’s  bad  habits  strengthens  the  victor.  The 
first  mis-step  through  want  of  will-power  is  but  “  the  com¬ 
mencement  of  a  long  series  of  failures.  Every  succeeding 
conflict  is  harder,  because  the  last  has  been  lost.  Every 


THE  LA  IV  OF  CONTINENCE. 


127 


defeat  lessens  the  last  trembling  remnants  of  self-reliance. 
And  at  last,  with  the  bitterest  pain  of  all — self-contempt — 
gnawing  at  his  heart — with  no  strength  to  say,  ‘  I  will  not’ — 
under  the  tyrannous  dominion  of  foul  passions,  which  what¬ 
ever  of  good  is  left  in  him  abhors,  the  man  slinks  and  stum¬ 
bles  toward  his  grave.” 

A  young  man,  exercising  a  firm  will  and  determined  pur¬ 
pose,  can  surmount  all  obstacles  that  obstruct  the  path  to  a 
continent  life.  Says  Acton  : 

“  A  striking  example  of  what  resolution  can  do  was  re¬ 
lated  to  me  lately  by  a  patient.  ‘  You  may  be  somewhat 
surprised,  Mr.  Acton/  said  he,  ‘  by  the-  statement  I  am  about 
to  make  to  you — that  before  my  marriage  I  lived  a  perfectly 
continent  life.  During  my  university  career  my  passions 
were  very  strong,  sometimes  almost  uncontrollable,  but  I 
have  the  satisfaction  of  thinking  that  I  mastered  them  ;  it 
was,  however,  by  great  efforts.  I  obliged  myself  to  take  vi¬ 
olent  physical  exercise  ;  I  was  the  best  oar  of  my  year,  and 
when  I  felt  particularly  strong  sexual  desires,  I  sallied  out  to 
take  more  exercise.  I  was  victorious  always  ;  and  I  never 
committed  fornication.  You  see  in  what  robust  health  I  am; 
it  was  exercise  that  alone  saved  me.’  I  may  mention  that 
this  gentleman  took  a  most  excellent  degree,  and  has  reached 
the  highest  point  of  his  profession.  Here  is  an  instance  of 
what  energy  of  character,  indomitable  perseverance,  and 
good  health  will  effect.” 

To  recapitulate,  in  as  few  words  as  possible,  the  following 
are  to  be  strictly  avoided  by  those  whose  desire  it  is  to  lead 
a  pure,  chaste  and  continent  life: 

Tobacco  in  all  its  forms. 

All  manner  of  alcoholic  liquors. 

Late  suppers  and  over-eating. 

Sweetmeats,  candies,  etc. 

White  bread,  when  it  is  possible  to  get  the  Graham. 

Pork,  and  all  fat  and  salt  meats,  sausages,  pickles,  oysters, 
lobsters,  eels,  etc. 


128 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


Salt,  except  in  moderate  quantities,  pepper,  mustard, 
spices,  vinegar,  and  other  condiments. 

Mince  and  other  pies,  and  all  manner  of  pastry. 

Tea,  coffee  and  chocolate. 

All  constriction  of  dress  about  the  body. 

Idleness  and  inaction  of  body  and  mind. 

Feather  beds  and  pillows,  and  heavy  bed  coverings. 

Unventilated  and  unlighted  bedrooms. 

Remaining  in  bed  in  the  morning  after  awaking. 

Companions  of  doubtful  or  bad  natures. 

Irresolute  will. 

Uncleanliness  of  body. 

Turkish  and  Russian  baths. 

Drugs  and  patent  medicines. 

Plantation  and  all  other  kinds  of  “  Bitters .” 

Quack  doctors. 

In  the  foregoing  list  there  are  many  things  that  the  ma¬ 
jority  of  mankind  will  think  twice  about  before  relinquishing 
their  use.  Yet,  to  the  individual  whose  desire  is  for  a  true 
life,  all  and  each  item  of  the  list  must  be  discarded.  There 
is  not  an  article  of  food,  condiment,  or  so-called  luxury, 
mentioned  above,  that  is  in  the  remotest  way  necessary  to 
the  growth  and  nourishment  of  a  healthy  body  and  soul.  I 
assert,  without  the  fear  of  successful  contradiction,  that  any 
'person  disregarding,  in  whole  or  in  part,  the  foregoing  Plan 
of  Life,  cannot  be  healthy,  chaste,  continent,  or  even  a  Chris¬ 
tian.  A  man  cannot  have  a  pure,  clean,  lovable  soul  in  a 
foul,  filthy  body,  and  purity  of  soul  is  essentially  requisite  in 
a  good  Christian.  Therefore,  oh  !  man,  young  and  hopeful 
— oh  !  woman,  fair  and  trusting,  see  to  it "  that  you  discard 
and  avoid  these  abominations  of  modern  civilization,  and  use, 
observe  and  enjoy  only  that  required  for  your  growth,  purity 
and  health  of  body  and  soul. 

The  things  ^bove  enumerated  you  are  commanded  to  dis¬ 
card,  if  you  would  avoid  a  sickly,  irritable,  fretful,  licentious, 
and  curtailed  life.  The  things  below  enumerated  you  are 


THE  LA  W  OF  CONTINENCE. 


129 


requested  to  observe,  use  and  enjoy,  if  you  would  live  a 
healthy  life,  a  continent  life,  a  happy  and  a  long  life  : 

Moderate  eating  of  food,  and  in  as  nearly  as  possible  its 
natural  condition. 

Two  meals  a  day — breakfast  at  seven  or  eight  o’clock ; 
dinner  at  two  or  three  o’clock,  P.M. 

If  more  than  two  meals  are  taken,  the  supper  to  be  not 
later  than  six  o’clock,  and  very  light — say,  a  piece  of  bread 
and  a  glass  of  water. 

Regularity  in  eating. 

Using  as  food — 

Bread,  mush  or  gruel  made  from  unbolted  wheat ;  mush 
or  cakes  made  from  oatmeal,  cornmeal;  hominy,  samp, 
rice,  etc. 

Apples,  pears,  peaches,  grapes,  strawberries,  blackberries, 
plums,  melons,  oranges,  figs — not  in  the  shape  of  jellies,  pre¬ 
serves,  etc.,  but  in  as  nearly  their  natural  state  as  possible 
during  their  season;  out  of  their  season,  from  the  dried  fruit, 
in  the  form  of  stews,  etc. 

Potatoes — common  and  sweet — green  corn,  tomatoes, 
green  peas,  squash,  cabbage — cut  up  fine  and  eaten  in  its 
natural  state  without  vinegar — shell  and  string  beans,  spin- 
age,  spring  greens,  etc. 

Milk  in  moderate  quantities,  cream,  butter  and  cheese  in 
very  small  quantities,  if  perfectly  sweet,  fresh  and  new. 

Lean  mutton,  lean  beef,  chicken  ;  as  little  animal  food  as 
possible  ;  best  if  altogether  discarded. 

Not  a  particle  of  food,  candies,  nuts,  etc.,  to  be  eaten  be¬ 
tween  meals. 

The  regular  morning  evacuation  of  the  bowels.  If  possi¬ 
ble,  acquire  the  habit  of  evacuating  them,  at  a  regular  hour, 
just  before  retiring  to  bed. 

Bed  and  pillows  made  of  corn  husk,  hair  or  sponge. 

Rising  with  prompt  and  careful  regularity  immediately  on 
waking  in  the  morning,  and  going  to  bed  at  an  early  and 
regular  hour. 


9 


130 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


Bedroom  to  be  well  lighted,  and  to  be  thoroughly  venti¬ 
lated  at  night  as  well  as  day. 

A  hand-bath  to  be  taken  every  morning,  thoroughly  and 
quickly  cleaning  the  surface  of  the  body ;  after  drying,  rapid 
friction  with  the  palms  of  the  hands  (no  Turkish  or  other 
coarse  towels  or  brushes  to  be  used  for  this  purpose).  After 
friction,  while  in  the  nude  state,  slightly  exercise  the  body 
by  throwing  the  arms  suddenly  and  forcibly  in  different  di¬ 
rections  ;  and  during  all  this  time,  if  the  sun  be  shining,  al¬ 
low  its  rays  to  fall  directly  on  the  body.  Between  ten  and 
twelve  o’clock  in  the  forenoon  is  the  best  time  for  this  life- 
renewing  bath  and  exercise ;  but  to  those  whose  business 
will  not  permit  this,  the  early  morning  hour  after  rising,  or 
after  the  morning  walk,  will  suffice. 

During  waking  hours,  excepting  while  at  meals,  the  con¬ 
stant  and  active  exercise  of  body  and  brain. 

The  daily  walk  of  from  five  to  ten  miles  morning  or  eve¬ 
ning. 

The  cultivation  of  a  firm  and  determined  will. 

The  active  morning  and  evening  exercise  of  the  religious 
sentiments. 

In  the  right  and  faithful  observance  of  these  laws,  man 
will  find  all  the  requirements  necessary  to  the  growth  of  per¬ 
fect  health,  purity  of  body,  nobleness  of  soul,  and,  above  and 
over  all,  continence.  By  the  just  observance  of  these  laws, 
woman  will  acquire  and  retain  beauty — beauty  of  face,  form 
and  character;  and  she  will  retain  and  gain  strength — strength 
of  body,  mind  and  soul ;  but,  above  and  over  all,  will  she  be 
pure,  lovable  and  chaste. 


b 


CHAPTER  XII. 


CHILDREN — THEIR  DESIRABILITY. 

“  Give  me  children,  or  else  I  die.” — Book  of  Genesis. 

HE  necessity  for  advocating  the 
desirability  of  propagating  and 
rearing  children,  most  readers 
may  think  a  superfluity ;  yet 
a  few  paragraphs  on  the  sub¬ 
ject  are,  nevertheless,  required. 
It  is  absolutely  essential  to 
the  perfect  union  of  a  man  and 
woman  that  they  be  endowed 
with  large  parental  love — the 
desire  for  and  love  of  chil¬ 
dren  ;  for  if  they  possess  not 
this  requisite,  it  is  next  to 
needless  for  them  to  marry. 
The  command  to  “  increase 
and  multiply”  should  be  obeyed  only  in  a  pure  and  loving 
spirit.  The  originating  of  children  in  God’s  own  image 
should  be  an  intensely  active,  loving  desire  on  the  part  of 
both  man  and  wife.  The  non-observance  of  this  require¬ 
ment  is  the  underlying  cause  of  the  dislike  for  offspring — a 
dislike  that  is  observable  among  the  higher  and  especially 
the  wealthier  classes.  It  is  the  underlying  cause  for  the  so- 
called  trouble  in  rearing  children ;  for  when  they  are  not 
propagated  under  right  conditions,  how  can  any  sane  parent 


132  •  THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 

imagine  they  can  be  reared  under  right  conditions.  Chil¬ 
dren  can  as  easily  be  brought  into  the  world  with  happy, 
sunny,  laughing  natures,  as  with  cross,  fretful,  irritable  na¬ 
tures. 

It  is  a  practice  to  be  greatly  deplored,  this  aversion  on 
the  part  of  intelligent,  educated  and  wealthy  people  to  hav¬ 
ing  large  families  ;  for  they  could,  if  their  thoughts  and  ac¬ 
tions  were  rightly  directed,  do  much  toward  peopling  the 
earth  with  a  better  and  nobler  class  of  beings.  As  it  is, 
what  a  pitiable  sight!  A  husband  and  wife,  educated  and 
surrounded  with  all  that  wealth  can  command,  with  one  or 
two  pale,  sickly  children,  the  result  of  perhaps  a  ten  or 
twenty  years’  union.  And  this  dislike  for  rearing  children  is 
infecting  the  middle  and  lower  classes,  and  the  effects  can  be 
distinctly  observed  in  many  localities  on  this  broad  conti¬ 
nent. 

What  is  the  cause  for  this  growing  antipathy  to  the  gene¬ 
rating  of  bright,  sweet  and  beautiful  children  ?  There  are 
many;  but  the  great,  prime  cause  is  licentiousness.  Ab¬ 
normal  amativeness  may  not — in  fact,  does  not — often  form 
a  constituent  part  of  the  woman’s  organism  ;  but  abnormal 
amativeness  in  the  man  and  husband  is  the  answer  that 
solves  this  riddle  of  non-desire  for  children.  Next  in  the 
list  of  causes  is  the  trouble  mothers  have  to  undergo  in 
their  rearing  ;  and  this,  coupled  with  the  sickness  and  danger, 
attendant  on  birth  and  gestation,  comprises  all  the  available 
reasons,  on  the  part  of  the  mother,  that  can  be  advanced, 
excepting  those  that  are  of  a  physical  or  constitutional  na¬ 
ture. 

There  are  some  women  born  with  very  small  parental 
love,  who  therefore  do  not  wish  nor  care  for  children. 
Such  women  are  to  be  pitied  and  shunned  by  all  men  desir¬ 
ing  wives  and  mothers.  This  unnatural  quality  is  as  often — 
perhaps  oftener — found  in  high  life  than  in  any  other  stratum 
of  society. 

Youth  and  beauty  are  both  desired  by  mankind,  but  es- 


CHILDREN—  THEIR  DESIRA  BILITY 


133 


pecially  are  they  desired  by  womankind  ;  and  married 
women  need  but  understand  this  fact  to  appreciate  it — that, 
in  bearing  children  under  right  conditions,  beauty  is  retained , 
if  not  acquired ,  and  old  age  is  put  off  a  very  great  way. 

A  married  life  without  children  is  an  unlovable  and  unsat¬ 
isfactory  life.  It  is  incomplete.  It  lacks  the  bands  that 
make  perfect  the  love-union  between  man  and  wife — the  new 
birth,  that  makes  the  twain  as  one  in  flesh  and  spirit.  But 
this  incompleteness  continues,  is  widened  and  confirmed, 
when  the  new  birth  is  undesired  by  either  party. 

Men  and  women  do  not  reach  their  true  status  in  this 
world — do  not  fulfill  their  mission  to  populate — do  not  attain 
the  full  royalty  of  their  natures,  until  they  originate  and 
rear  a  child ;  and  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  children 
they  rear  is  the  royalty  of  their  souls  perfected, 

Children  !  Ah,  yes  ;  it  is  a  glorious  privilege,  an  incom¬ 
parable  privilege — the  privilege  of  rearing,  under  loving 
conditions,  a  family  of  strong,  able,  bright,  intelligent  boys, 
and  healthy,  beautiful  and  lovable  girls.  Think  of  the  pride 
and  pleasure  of  Abdon,  the  Judge  of  Israel,  whose  forty  sons 
and  thirty  grandchildren  filed  off  before  him,  mounted  on 
threescore  and  ten  ass-colts.  How  the  old  man’s  heart  must 
have  bounded  with  honest  exultation  when  he  beheld  such 
a  cavalcade  of  his  own  raising  ! 

Children  conceived  under  the  laws  laid  down  in  these 
pages  will  be  to  their  parents  a  well-spring  of  joy,  desirable 
and  enjoyable  in  their  sweet  innocence,  their  pleasant  ways, 
their  happy  natures — emblems  of  a  love-life  here  and  a 
higher  love-life  hereafter.  In  the  ministering  to  the  child’s 
daily  growth  of  body  and  expansion  of  intellect,  the  mother 
takes  on  a  renewal  of  beauty,  health  and  youth.  No  pleas¬ 
ure  so  intense,  no  joy  so  unalloyed,  as  is  the  pleasure  of  a 
baby  born  under  right  conditions.  The  pleasure,  joy  and 
happiness  savor  of  heaven. 

But  the  child  born  under  undesirable  conditions  !  Ah,  the 
sorrow,  suffering  and  misery  that  attend  its  entrance  into 


134 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


and  exit  from  this  beautiful  world  cannot  be  here  re¬ 
corded. 

A  noticeable  requirement,  in  those  who  endeavor  to  lead 
a  true  and  pure  life,  is  that  in  their  every-day  expressions 
and  actions  they  be  as  little  children  ;  and  in  no  way  can  the 
hard-worked  man  of  business  or  labor  so  renew  his  purity  of 
life  and  freshness  of  youth  as  in  the  companionship  of  little 
children — while  with  them  to  be  as  one  of  them,  forgetting 
all  outside  trouble,  living  only  in  the  presence  of  happy, 
smiling,  talkative,  lovable,  innocent  childhood. 


“  Blessings  on  the  blessing  children,  sweetest  gifts  of  heaven  to  earth, 
Filling  all  the  heart  with  gladness,  filling  all  the  house  with  mirth, 
Bringing  with  them  native  sweetness,  pictures  of  the  primal  bloom, 
Which  the  bliss  forever  gladdens,  of  the  region  whence  they  came.” 


The  advocating  of  increase  in  number  of  offspring,  may 
suggest  to  some  minds  the  question  of  overcrowded  popula¬ 
tions,  with  its  attendant  starvation  and  misery.  This  prob¬ 
ability  has  been  a  source  of  anxiety  to  writers  on  political 
economy — one  of  them,  a  reverend  philanthropic  econo¬ 
mist,  having  assumed  that  “  population  unrestrained  will  ad¬ 
vance  beyond  subsistence” — “  that  population  in  most  coun¬ 
tries,  at  the  present  period,  presses  against  the  means  of  sub¬ 
sistence,  and  that  it  tends  to  do  so  in  all  countries.”  These 
fears  about  overcrowding  populations  are  groundless,  for  “  it 
is  only  necessary  to  remember  that,  notwithstanding  the 
immense  power  of  reproduction  possessed  by  the  animal  and 
vegetable  kingdoms,  we  do  not  find,  after  the  lapse  of  many 
thousand  years  since  their  creation,  either  the  terrestrial  or 
celestial  spheres  insufficient  to  contain  their  inhabitants  ;  nor 
has  the  incalculably  large  reproduction  of  fishes  as  yet  filled 
up  the  ocean  ;  nor  is  there,  at  this  day,  a  civilized  popula¬ 
tion  in  any  country  on  the  face  of  the  globe  without  the 
means  of  subsistence.” 

“  If  progress  is  the  fundamental  and  all-pervading  law  of 
the  universe,  and  if  the  human  race  is  no  exception  to  that 


CHILDREN— THEIR  DESIRABILITY. 


135 


law,  there  is  and  must  be  a  self-adjusting  principle  to  which 
mankind  will  eventually  attain.  Otherwise  there  can  be  no 
millennial  period  this  side  of  the  future  state — no  rational  ba¬ 
sis  on  which  to  predicate  any  great  refomi  among  men,  or 
advancement  of  the  whole  human  family  in  knowledge,  vir¬ 
tue  and  happiness.” 

When  mankind  approach  the  standard  of  a  true  life,  as 
they  eventually  must,  the  same  area  of  country  that  now 
supports  ten  millions  will  then  support  a  hundred  millions. 
“The  imagination  of  man  cannot  compass  the  magnificence 
of  material  wealth,  beauty  and  happiness  to  which  this  planet 
is  destined ;  or,  what  is  the  same  thing,  of  which  it  is  capa¬ 
ble.  It  is  not  likely  that  God  or  man  will  stop  short  of  work¬ 
ing  out  all  its  capabilities.” 


1 


i 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


THE  LAW  OF  GENIUS. 


0  have  children  is  a  thing  to 
be  greatly  desired  ;  but  to 
have  children  of  well-bal¬ 
anced  organizations,  healthy, 
beautiful,  and  possessing  the 
quality  of  genius  in  some  one 
or  other  direction,  is  a  thing 
every  parent  should  long, 
strive  and  work  for. 

Why  is  it  that  there  is  so 
much  of  the  plain  and  medi¬ 
ocre  of  mankind  in  the  world  ? 
Why  is  it  that,  where  there 
is  one  success  in  life’s  en¬ 
deavors,  there  are  thousands 
of  failures  ?  Why  is  it  that 
there  is  so  much  sin,  misery, 
suffering  and  premature  death,  and  so  little,  so  very  little  of 
genuine  success  and  happiness  ?  Why  is  there  so  much  of 
the  wrong  in  life,  and  so  little  of  the  right  ?  These  are  im¬ 
portant  questions,  and  yet  easy  of  solution  ;  for  when  it 
comes  to  be  understood  that  not  more  than  one  child  in  per¬ 
haps  ten  thousand  is  brought  into  the  world  with  the  con¬ 
sent  and  loving  desire  of  the  parents,  and  that  the  other  nine 
thousand,  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine  children  are  en- 


136 


THE  LA  W  OF  GENIUS . 


137 


dowed  widi  the  accumulated  sins  of  the  parents,  is  it  any 
wonder  that  there  is  so  much  sin,  sickness,  drunkenness,  suf¬ 
fering,  licentiousness,  murder,  suicide  and  premature  death, 
and  so  little  of  purity,  chastity,  success,  godliness,  happiness 
and  long  life  in  the  world  ?  The  reformation  of  the  world 
can  never  be  accomplished, — the  millenium  of  purity,  chas¬ 
tity  and  intense  happiness  can  never  reach  this  earth,  except 
through  cheerful  obedience  to  pre-natal  laws. 

All  the  educational  institutions  in  the  world — all  the  be¬ 
nevolent,  industrial  and  reform  societies — all  the  anti-tobacco 
advocates — all  the  temperance  societies  and  all  the  divines  in 
the  world,  combined  and  working  harmoniously  together, 
cannot  do  as  much  in  a  life-time  of  effort,  in  the  elevation  of 
mankind,  as  can  a  mother  in  nine  months  of  pre-natal  ef¬ 
fort.  This  is  an  important  assertion,  and  yet  is  one  that  has 
law,  right  and  God  on  its  side. 

It  is  a  noticeable  thing  that,  in  the  ruling  and  guiding  of 
this  world,  there  is  absolutely  nothing  done  by  chance,  from 
the  growth  of  the  smallest  insect  to  that  of  the  largest  quad¬ 
ruped  ;  from  the  falling  of  a  sparrow,  to  the  death  of  a  sin¬ 
ner  or  a  Christian ;  from  the  forming  of  the  tiny  crystal  of 
dew,  to  the  laborings  of  the  destructive  hurricane.  In  all, 
and  through  all,  and  over  all,  is  the  working  of  God’s  om¬ 
nipotent  presence — His  unchangeable  and  undeviating  laws. 
In  the  production  of  offspring  there  too  must  be  a  law — a 
law  of  right  and  wrong — and  the  non-observance  of  this  law 
entails  on  its  violaters  the  penalty  of  a  sickly,  effeminate, 
mediocre,  short-lived  progeny  ;  while  its  close  observance 
brings  with  it  an  approach  to  perfection,  in  form,  feature  and 
soul,  of  the  new-born. 

In  the  conception  of  a  new  soul,  the  mass  of  mankind  ob¬ 
serve  no  law,  unless  il*  be  the  law  of  chance.  Out  of  the  li¬ 
centious  or  incontinent  actions  of  a  husband’s  nature,  con¬ 
ception,  after  a  time,  is  discovered  to  have  taken  place.  No 
preparation  of  body,  mind  or  soul  by  either  parent — simply 
the  accidental  infusion  of  the  man’s  hugely  abnormal  exist- 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


138 

ence  into  the  unimpregnated  germ  of  the  mother;  and  un¬ 
desired  by  the  father,  as  interfering  with  his  incontinent  na¬ 
ture,  and  dreaded  and  hated  by  the  mother,  a  new  soul  is 
born  into  the  world — a  soul  having  for  its  inheritance  all  the 
essential  qualities  necessary  for  a  puny,  brief,  and  unsuccess¬ 
ful  existence. 

And  such  a  formidable  array  of  wrong  does  this  chance 
mode  of  creating  new  beings  produce,  that  it  might  well 
have  caused  angels  to  weep,  and  God  to  have  sent  His  Son 
as  a  living  exponent  of  a  right,  holy  and  lovable  birth,  and 
a  pure,  sinless  and  righteous  life.  Witness  the  thousands  of 
the  lame,  the  halt,  the  blind,  the  deaf  and  dumb,  the  de¬ 
formed,  the  idiotic,  the  weak,  the  diseased,  the  drunkards, 
the  gluttons,  the  debased,  that  suffer  the  righteous  penalty 
of  a  broken  sexual  law,  and  that  mar  the  fair  surface  of  this 
beautiful  earth. 

Next  comes  the  great  array  of  the  mediocre  of  mankind, 
who  in  conception  may  or  may  not  have  been  desired,  but 
who,  in  the  required  abilities  for  the  attainment  of  a  high 
standard  of  life,  are  sadly  deficient ;  and  it  is  with  their  abil¬ 
ities  as  with  their  sins — they  are  of  the  kind  that  may  be 
termed  harmless.  They  do  not  enjoy,  for  they  cannot  ap¬ 
preciate,  the  glorious  privilege  of  a  true  existence.  It  might 
with  truth  be  said  of  this  large  class  :  they  do  not  live — they 
only  vegetate. 

And  next  follows  that  class  of  mankind — few  in  number — 
who,  through  accident,  were  generated  under  nearly  right 
conditions,  and  who,  therefore,  while  on  this  earth,  asserted 
the  strong  individuality  of  their  high  natures,  and  who  so 
stamped  the  original  of  their  souls  on  the  world’s  highways 
and  byways,  as  to  require  no  granite  pile  or  marble  monu¬ 
ment  to  record  the  fact  that  they  were  born,  lived  and  died. 

And  lastly  we  come  to  that  class — fewest  in  number  of 
all — who,  desired  by  both  parents,  were  generated  under 
right,  loving  and  holy  conditions,  and  who  in  their  life-pil¬ 
grimage  knew  only  of  the  bright  side  of  life,  and  experi- 


THE  LA  W  OF  GENIUS. 


139 


enced  only  the  successes  of  life ;  who,  in  their  pre-natal 
formation,  took  on  the  joy,  the  glory  and  happiness  that  ap¬ 
pertain  to  a  soul  in  harmony  with  God’s  divine  law  of  love, 
and  who  during  life  here  maintained  their  supremacy  of 
character  and  soul  over  their  unfortunately  conceived  fellow- 
beings,  and  who  during  the  life  hereafter  will  increase  and 
establish  that  supremacy. 

The  influence  of  a  right  birthright  on  the  future  welfare 
of  mankind  is  immense.  A  statistician  has  estimated  that 
every  married  couple  producing  offspring  may  calculate  upon 
over  four  million  of  descendants  in  five  hundred  years.  And 
then  the  influence  of  well-directed  or  mis-directed  laws, 
in  the  conception  of  a  new  life,  does  not  stop  at  its  exit  from 
this  world.  Oh  !  no  ;  it  extends  into  eternity.  Give  birth 
to  a  human  being  under  conditions  that  will  make  it  an  im¬ 
becile  or  an  idiot,  and  the  parents  or  any  sane  person  will 
not  for  a  moment  think  that,  after  its  death,  it  will  in  the 
next  world  bloom  into  a  Shakespeare,  a  Milton,  or  Bacon. 
Endow  a  new  life  with  a  licentious,  gluttonous,  unclean  and 
wicked  nature,  and  no  right-thinking  observer  will  decide 
that,  as  soon  as  such  a  soul  leaves  this  earth,  it  will  take 
on  the  garments  of  purity,  innocence,  chastity  and  holiness. 
Therefore,  it  behooves  all  parents  to  see  to  it  that  they  learn 
the  law,  understand  and  practice  it. 

The  fundamental  principles  of  genius  in  reproduction  are 
that,  through  the  rightly-directed  efforts  of  the  wills  of  the 
mother  and  father,  preceding  and  during  ante-natal  life,  the 
child’s  form  of  body,  character  of  mind,  and  purity  of  soul, 
are  formed  and  established.  That  in  its  plastic  state,  during 
ante- natal  life,  like  clay  in  the  hands  of  the  potter,  it  can  be 
molded  into  absohitely  any  form  of  body  a?id  soul  the  parents 
may  knowingly  desire. 

And  now  for  the  unfolding  of  this  law  : 

There  are  in  this  direction,  as  in  many  others,  obstacles — 
some  trifling,  some  apparently  insurmountable.  Let  me  no¬ 
tice  some  of  them. 


140 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE . 


It  is  required,  in  the  generation  of  healthy,  intelligent  and 
lovable  children,  primarily  that  the  woman  have  perfect 
health — and  this  implies  a  rigid  observance  of  the  Plan  of 
Life  in  a  former  chapter.  Now  some  women  are  not  healthy, 
and  while  there  is  the  remotest  indication  of  any  mental  or 
physical  disease — nervous,  inflammatory  or  chronic — they 
should  not  bear  children  until  they  regain  their  normal 
standard  of  life.  Women  who  prevent  the  normal  working 
of  their  life’s  internal  economy  by  corsets,  or  strictures  of 
any  kind,  should  not  bear  children,  for  they  cannot  possibly 
rear  healthy  or  desirable  offspring.  It  is  useless  for  this 
class  of  women  to  say  that  their  corsets  and  bands  are  worn 
loose ;  for  they  must,  if  they  desire  the  pleasures  rather  than 
the  pains  of  maternity,  discard  them  at  once  and  for  all 

time.  If  they  assert  that  their  smallness  of  waists  are  not 

made  by  corsets  or  tight  dresses,  but  as  Nature  (!)  made 

them,  the  reason  is  much  more  palpable  that  they  bear  no 

children  until,  through  proper  exercise  and  living,  they  as¬ 
sist  Nature  to  give  them  a  proper  form. 

Another  class  of  women  who  should  not  bear  offspring  are 
those  whose  only  aim  and  purpose  in  life  is  to  observe,  study 
and  follow  the  empress  Fashion.  A  woman — and  there  are 
many — having  no  higher  aim  or  object  in  life  than  the  de¬ 
sire  to  be  in  the  latest  fashion,  cannot  bring  into  life  a  being 
that  will  redound  to  her  own  honor  and  God’s  glory. 

The  requirements  in  the  woman  who  aspires  to  be  a  moth¬ 
er,  under  the  directions  of  this  Law  of  Genius,  are : 

That  she  be  perfectly  healthy,  having  no  acquired  or  her¬ 
editary  disease. 

That  she  be  well  formed,  with  a  full-sized  waist  and  broad 
pelvis. 

That  she  be  capable  of  nursing  her  children. 

That  she  think  more  of  the  vital  purposes  of  life  than  of 
the  superficial  follies  and  fashions  of  the  day. 

That  she  possess  a  religious  nature. 

The  requirements  in  the  man  are: 


THE  LA  W  OF  GENIUS. 


141 

That  he  be  perfectly  healthy,  having  no  constitutional  or 
hereditary  taint  of  disease. 

That  he  be  well  formed. 

That  he  be  free  from  the  disgusting  and  degrading  habits 
of  using  tobacco  and  alcoholic  liquors. 

That  he  be  a  continent  man. 

That  he  be  a  Christian  man. 

Finally, — what  is  most  important  of  all, — let  the  husband 
and  wife  be  one,  or  nearly  one,  in  mind  and  soul,  unselfishly 
and  lovingly  living  together,  and  working  together  for  the 
common  object  of  success,  and  the  pleasure  that  comes  of 
success. 

The  perfectly  healthy  and  loving  union  of  the  husband  and 
wife  being  established,  the  next  move  leads  us  into  the  in¬ 
quiry  concerning  the  time  or  times  of  preparation  for  con¬ 
ceiving  and  establishing  the  character  of  the  New  Life. 

The  period  of  transmitted  influence  may  be  divided  into 
three  distinct  divisions — the  first,  the  one  lunar  month  before 
the  morning  of  impregnation,  which  four  weeks  may  be 
called  the  period  of  introductory  preparation.  The  next  di¬ 
vision — the  nine  months  of  intro- uterine  life,  or  the  period 
of  gestatory  influence ;  and  the  last  division — the  twelve 
months  of  nursing,  the  period  of  nursing  influence. 

During,  or  rather  at  the  end  of  the  period  of  introductory 
preparation,  the  husband’s  impress  of  life  and  character  is 
direct  on  the  formation  of  the  New  Life.  During  the  last 
two  divisions  his  impress  is  only  accessory — that  is,  only  as 
he  can  influence  and  guide  the  soul  of  the  mother. 

D  uring  the  different  periods,  the  mother’s  influence  is 
present  and  paramount,  and  on  her,  in  the  greatest  measure, 
rests  the  high  and  holy  destiny  of  the  child. 

When,  in  the  woman,  an  egg  leaves  the  ovaries,  it  is  car¬ 
ried  to  the  uterus,  where  it  remains  some  days,  and  is  finally 
cast  off.  The  longer  the  egg  remains  in  the  uterus,  the  more 
it  loses  in  firmness  of  texture,  and  this  loss  of  firmness  con¬ 
tinues  until  it  is  thrown  off.  Therefore,  the  egg  should  be 


142 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


impregnated  in  its  freshest  and  firmest  state — and  this  is  as 
soon  after  the  cessation  of  the  menses  as  is  desirable.  If 
then  impregnated,  you  have  a  strong,  firm,  healthy  organ¬ 
ized  child  ;  whereas,  if  impregnated  at  or  just  before  being 
cast  off,  the  chances  are  a  weak,  puny  child. 

The  period  of  introductory  preparation,  then,  ante-dates 
four  weeks  from  the  time  desired  for  sexual  congress,  which 
time  is  to  follow  the  cessation  of  the  menses. 

Now,  during  this  four  weeks  an  egg  is  ripening  in  the 
ovary  of  the  woman,  and  during  this  period  the  mother  can 
exert  a  wonderful  influence  on  the  future  life  of  the  child. 

In  the  husband,  during  this  period  of  four  weeks  ante-da¬ 
ting  sexual  congress,  will  slowly  be  secreted — if  he  is  as  he 
ought  to  be,  a  continent  man — sperm- cells.  These  sperm- 
cells,  through  his  earnest  desire  for  offspring,  will  slowly  take 
on  the  nature  of  zoosperms,  and  as  in  proportion  to  the  ef¬ 
fort  of  his  four-weeks’  introductory  preparation,  and  its  im¬ 
pression  on  the  zoosperms,  so  will  his  desires  be  incorpo¬ 
rated  in  the  life-tissue  of  the  child. 

It  must  be  remembered  that,  in  all  these  seasons  of  prepa¬ 
ration,  the  husband  and  wife  must  have  precisely  similar  ob¬ 
jects  in  view.  Their  hopes  and  aims  must  be  alike  ;  their 
desires,  thoughts  and  actions  must  be  similar. 

Though  I  have  allotted  but  four  weeks  as  the  season  of 
introductory  preparation,  yet,  if  either  parent  have  bad  hab¬ 
its  they  do  not  ^wish  to  transmit  to  their  offspring,  they 
should  make  this  period  much  longer — say,  four  or  six 
months,  or,  if  required,  twelve  months.  Some  insects  live 
from  two  to  four  years  in  preparation  for  the  generative  act, 
and  then,  so  great  is  the  drain  on  their  life-force,  that  after 
it  they  live  but  an  hour. 

The  man  should — during  this  introductory  period  of  four 
weeks,  four  or  twelve  months — 

If  he  use  tobacco,  give  up  its  use. 

If  he  use  alcoholic  liquors,  relinquish  the  habit. 

If  he  be  gluttonous,  to  “  eat  only  to  live.” 


THE  LA  W  OF  GENIUS . 


143 


If  he  have  irregular  habits,  he  should  adopt  order  and 
method. 

If  he  be  of  an  untruthful  nature,  he  should  endeavor  to 
be  truth  personified. 

If  he  have  profane  tendencies,  he  should  cultivate  rever¬ 
ence  for  things  sacred. 

It  must  be  understood  that  this  four  weeks  of  introductory 
preparation  is  only  applicable  to  the  man  who  approaches  a 
high  standard  of  life  ;  four  to  twelve  months  being  almost  a 
necessity  for  the  man  whose  habits  of  life  are  false,  unnatu¬ 
ral  and  undesirable. 

The  woman,  during  this  four  weeks,  should — 

If  she  dresses  tightly,  adopt  a  very  loose  and  short  dress, 
so  arranged  with  braces  that  the  weight  of  the  clothes  will 
rest  on  the  shoulders.  4 

If  she  be  much  in-doors,  take  a  daily  walk  or  pleasant 
out-door  exercise. 

If  she  be  greatly  troubled  with  company — friends  or  tran¬ 
sient  visitors — she  should  induce  them  to  postpone  their  vis¬ 
its  until  a  more  convenient  season. 

If  she  have  irregular  habits  of  life,  she  should  cultivate  or¬ 
der  in  all  the  daily  household  requirements. 

The  husband  and  wife,  during  this  period,  should  occupy 
separate  beds,  and  altogether  should  follow,  as  nearly  as  pos¬ 
sible  the  Plan  of  Life  given  in  a  preceding  chapter. 

The  chief  requisite  in  those  who  would  transmit  desirable 
qualities  to  the  offspring  is  strength  of  will  and  firmness 
of  purpose.  The  determined  exercise  of  the  will-power  is 
an  essential  requisite,  and  one  that  all  parents  should  assidu¬ 
ously  cultivate.  If  a  husband  and  wife  say:  “  We  will  follow 
out  the  principles  of  this  ‘  Science  of  a  New  Life’ — we  will 
do  all  these  things,”  and  constantly  and  persistently  exercise 
the  will-element  in  the  required  direction,  they  can,  in  the 
formation  of  the  New  Life,  accomplish  almost  any  idea  of 
the  human  form  desired. 

If  inquired  into,  it  will  be  noticed  that  the  majority  of  the 


144 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


parents  of  the  world’s  acknowledged  great  and  good  men 
and  women,  were  not  in  any  way  renowned  for  the  gifts 
their  sons  and  daughters  so  markedly  displayed — that  they 
in  most  cases  are  never  mentioned,  never  even  thought  of. 
They  simply,  through  the  accidental  observance  of  this  Law 
of  Genius,  bequeathed  to  their  children  genius  in  full  or 
great  measure.  This  being  so,  it  is  not  difficult  to  under¬ 
stand  that  the  possession  by  both  parents  of  an  ordinary,  or 
full  and  evenly  developed  organization,  coupled  at  all  times 
with  the  full  exercise  of  the  will-power,  is  all  that  is  requi¬ 
red,  intellectually,  to  generate  beautiful  and  talented  chil¬ 
dren. 

And  this  is  so ;  although,  where  either  parent  has  a  com¬ 
bination  of  faculties  that  approximates  in  its  exercise  the 
quality  of  genius,  by  the  assiduous  cultivation  of  this  qual¬ 
ity  during  the  periods  of  preparation,  it  can  be  greatly  in¬ 
creased  in  quantity  and  quality  in  the  offspring.  Yet  it  is 
not  absolutely  required  that  the  parents  have  other  than  an 
even  and  well-balanced  mental  and  physical  organization. 

Perhaps,  before  going  further,  it  would  be  well  to  define 
what  is  meant  by  genius.  Webster  defines  it  to  be  “  the  pe¬ 
culiar  structure  of  mind  which  is  given  by  Nature  to  an  in¬ 
dividual,  or  that  disposition  or  bent  of  mind  which  qualifies 
him  for  a  particular  employment ;  a  particular  natural  talent 
or  aptitude  of  mind  for  a  particular  study  or  course  of  life ; 
as  a  genius  for  history,  for  poetry,  or  painting.” 

It  may  be  argued  that,  if  this  Law  of  Genius  should  be 
adopted  by  the  majority  of  parents,  the  world  would  be 
overcrowded  with  geniuses.  And  this  is  just  what  is  de¬ 
sired  and  hoped  for  by  the  author.  Why  is  it  that  every 
trade  and  profession  in  life,  from  the  boot-black  to  the  teach¬ 
er  and  minister,  is  so  crowded  with  the  mediocre,  and  there¬ 
fore  so  unsuccessful  ?  Simply  from  lack  of  genius.  Why  is 
it  that  so  many  fail  in  mercantile  pursuits  ?  Simply  from 
lack  of  genius.  Why  is  it  that  there  are  so  few  success¬ 
ful  farmers  ? — so  many  inferior  mechanics  ? — in  short,  so 


THE  LA  W  OF  GENIUS . 


145 


much  misery  ?  Simply  and  only  because  of  lack  of  genius. 
It  is  required  in  a  successful  mechanic  as  much  as  in  a  suc¬ 
cessful  statesman  that  he  should  possess  genius.  It  is  re¬ 
quired  in  a  successful  shoemaker  as  much  as  in  a  successful 
novelist  that  he  should  possess  genius.  This  being  so, 
we  cannot  possibly  over-people  the  earth  with  offspring  hav¬ 
ing  the  divine  quality  of  genius. 

The  demand  for  talent — which  implies  genius — in  every 
department  of  life’s  efforts  is  great  and  constantly  increas¬ 
ing.  Men  (and  women)  of  common-place  abilities  are  super¬ 
abundant,  whereas  the  men  of  energy,  of  ability  and  genius, 
are  sadly  few.  In  this  intensely  progressive  age,  only  those 
who  are  strong  of  body  and  brilliant  of  intellect  are  asked 
for  and  wanted. 

Parents  having  a  grown  son,  whose  education  is  complete, 
a  great  trouble  arises  as  to  what  particular  department  in  the 
world’s  workshop  he  shall  enter.  “  Shall  we  make  of  him  a 
minister  or  carpenter  ? — an  editor  or  peddler  ? — a  statesman 
or  farmer  ?”  And  when  eventually  the  choice  is  made,  the 
chances  are  as  one  in  a  thousand  that  he  has  made  a  mis¬ 
take — that  the  department  chosen  is  not  suited  to  his  abili¬ 
ties.  'Now,  by  the  observance  of  this  Law  of  Genius,  this 
doubt  of  choice  can  be  avoided  ;  for  it  is  required  that  the 
choice  of  trade  or  profession  for  the  New  Life  he  decided  on 
before  even  its  conception.  The  mother  and  father  must  de¬ 
cide,  before  the  commencement  of  the  four  weeks  of  prepa¬ 
ration,  what  character  and  occupation  the  coming  child  is  to 
possess  and  follow,  and  by  and'through-  this  decision  the  fu¬ 
ture  success  of  the  individual  is  not  only  settled  but  guar¬ 
anteed. 

Life  being  so  short,  and  art  so  long,  it  is  always  desirable 
in  the  conception  of  a  new  being  that  but  one  trade  or  pro¬ 
fession  be  fixed  on,  and  but  one  branch  of  that  trade  or  pro¬ 
fession.  If,  for  instance,  it  is  the  desire  of  the  parents  to 
have  the  child  an  artist,  it  slnpuld  be  some  one  of  the  divis¬ 
ions  of  artist-life — cither  a  painter  of  human  heads,  animals, 

IO 


146 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


or  landscapes.  If  a  farmer,  that  it  should  be  a  stock-raiser, 
a  fruit-grower,  a  grain-grower,  etc. — and  so,  in  almost  every 
department  of  labor,  only  one  line  or  specialty  should  be 
adopted  ;  for  the  quality  of  genius,  spread  over  many  branch¬ 
es  or  departments  of  labor,  is  weakened;  whereas,  if  embod¬ 
ied  in  one  single  quality  or  combination  of  qualities,  it 
grows,  increases  and  is  strengthened  by  exercise,  and  is  in¬ 
variably  more  thoroughly  effective  in  its  action. 

I  think  that  there  is  no  occupation  so  favorable  and  so  de¬ 
sirable  for  the  growth  and  welfare,  prosperity  and  happiness 
of  the  individual  as  is  farming.  Farmers,  under  right  con¬ 
ditions  and  habits  of  life,  are,  or  should  be,  the  blessed  of 
mankind.  From  their  loins  should  spring,  in  echo  to  the 
Law  of  Genius,  the  bright,  the  beautiful,  the  successful,  the 
geniuses  of  the  world.  And  yet  this  is  lamentably  not  the 
case,  and  why  ?  Because  they  live  under  such  wrong  con¬ 
ditions  of  life,  when  it  is  within  their  reach  to  live  as  nearly 
within  the  line  of  Nature’s  laws  as  it  is  possible  for  mortals. 
Why  is  it  that  sons  and  daughters  born  on  the  farm  possess 
such  an  eager,  determined  desire  to  leave  it  ?  Because, 
through  these  same  wrong  conditions  of  life,  the  mother  is 
worried,  tired  and  sick  of  the  drudgery  of  farm-life,  and 
longs  to  be  released  from  it.  This  desire  by  the  mother  is 
ingrained  in  the  organization  of  the  unborn,  which  is  the 
reason  so  many  young  men  leave  the  bright,  beautiful  coun¬ 
try,  and  crowd  into  the  dusty  heated  cities.  Now  there 
must  be  something  radically  wrong  in  the  life  of  a  farmer, 
else  this  could  not  be,  and  the  cause  of  this  particular  evil 
happens  to  be  the  root  of  all  evil — money.  If  I  possessed 
the  re-distributing  of  the  land  on  this  continent,  I  would 
apportion  it  thus  :  To  all  farmers,  fifty  acres  each  ;  to  subur¬ 
ban  residents,  five  acres  each  ;  and  to  residents  of  cities,  one 
city  lot  each — with  no  privilege,  at  any  or  at  all  times,  to 
increase  these  respective  quantities.  A  farmer  who  does  his 
work  thoroughly  and  understandingly,  can  make  more  mon¬ 
ey  (if  this  be  his  object  in  life)  with  less  work  and  more 


THE  LA  IV  OF  GENIUS. 


147 


pleasure  and  recreation,  on  a  small  farm  of  twenty-five  or 
fifty  acres,  than  he  could  by  the  possession  of  a  farm  of  five 
hundred  or  a  thousand  acres  only  half  tilled. 

In  England,  many  farmers  support  large  families  on  the 
produce  of  six  English  acres  of  land,  beside  paying  heavy 
taxes.  Many  in  Germany  do  even  better  than  this. 

There  are  a  few  instances  where  men  may  occasionally 
succeed,  but  they  are  exceptions  to  the  rule  of  large  farm¬ 
ing.  The  large  farmer  has  to  expend  more  than  the  small 
farmer  in  the  way  of  teams,  wagons,  implements  and  ma¬ 
chinery  ;  hired  help  ;  heavy  taxes  on  large  tracts  of  land  ; 
stock  and  personal  properties,  which  he  necessarily  has  to 
accumulate  ;  then  there  is  the  wear  and  tear  of  harness  and 
tools ;  the  continual  expense  of  keeping  up  fences,  build¬ 
ings,  etc.  Last,  and  not  least,  there  must  needs  be  a  great 
amount  of  capital  invested  in  all  this  necessary  outfit  for  a 
large  farm. 

The  small  farmer,  on  his  fifty  acres  or  less,  with  one  good 
team,  himself  and  a  little  hired  help,  or  his  own  boys,  if  he 
has  any,  can  perform  the  labor  of  improving  his  farm,  culti¬ 
vating  and  harvesting  his  crop,  with  a  moderate  expenditure  ; 
and  when  he  foots  up  his  accounts  at  the  end  of  the  year, 
will  come  out  ahead  of  his  large-farm  neighbor.  The  secret  of 
success  in  farming  is  manuring,  deep  plowing,  and  thorough 
tillage.  This  is  more  easily  done  on  small  tracts  of  land,  and 
much  more  likely  to  be  done,  than  on  the  large  farm. 

-  Small  farming  can  be  done  more  scientifically  ajid  syste¬ 
matically  than  it  is  generally  practicable  to  have  done  on 
large  farms ;  and  the  consequence  is  that  more  is  produced 
to  the  acre  than  is  the  result  of  large  farming. 

The  safe  and  sure  guide  for  the  farmer  is  to  attempt  the 
cultivation  of  no  more  acres  than  he  can  keep  in  perfect 
good  heart,  and  every  day’s  experience  demonstrates  the 
fact  that,  with  occasional  exceptions,  a  little  farm  well  tilled 
is  more  profitable  in  the  end  than  a  large  one  indifferently 
cultivated.  We  once  read  a  story  of  a  Frenchman  who  had 


148 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


two  daughters.  One  of  them  married,  and  received  one- 
half  of  the  paternal  vineyard  as  her  dowry.  To  the  old 
man’s  surprise,  the  half  he  had  reserved,  receiving  as  much 
cultivation  as  he  formerly  bestowed  upon  the  whole,  yielded 
as  much  as  the  whole  had.  The  second  married,  and  he 
gave  her  one- half  of  what  he  had  left,  and  still  had  as  many 
grapes  from  his  remaining  fourth  as  he  used  to  get  from  the 
whole.  There  is  a  whole  volume  of  practical  truth  in  this 
little  anecdote.  Its  moral  is :  attempt  the  cultivation  of  no 
more  land  than  you  can  cultivate  well  and  thoroughly. 

Another  thing  against  the  purity  of  a  farmer’s  life,  and  es¬ 
pecially  so  adverse  to  rearing  of  clean,  healthy  and  beauti¬ 
ful  children,  is  the  unnecessary  filth  that  usually  attaches  it¬ 
self  to  the  farms  of  those  whose  ideality  is  undeveloped.  A 
pure,  sweet,  healthy  child  cannot  be  raised  in  the  vicinity  of 
a  hog-pen,  with  its  ever-present  foul  odors  tainting  God’s 
pure  atmosphere.  But — to  stop  here  at  what  farmers  should 
not  do — I  will  briefly  mention  what  a  farmer  should  do, 
whose  desire  is  for  the  most  legitimate,  healthy,  artistic  and 
happy  life  on  this  earth. 

He  should  possess  a  small  farm  of  not  more  than  fifty 
acres.  He  should  adopt  one — not  more  than  two  special¬ 
ties — the  raising  of  apples,  peaches,  small  fruits,  or  grain  ; 
horses,  cattle  and  sheep,  etc.,  to  be  decided  on  by  the  na¬ 
ture  of  his  land,  location,  etc.  It  should  be  understood,  in 
this  age  of  rapid  progress,  that  the  man  who  adopts  special¬ 
ties  is  for  many  reasons  most  likely  to  succeed.  He  should 
employ,  as  fast  as  it  is  in  his  power  to  do  so,  all  the  modern 
implements  of  husbandry,  and  so  allow  him  more  time  for 
exercise  of  brain  and  less  labor  of  muscle.  He  should  cul¬ 
tivate  the  beautiful  on  his  person,  family,  in  and  around  his 
house — and  this  does  not  imply  a  great  outlay  of  money. 
Neatness  and  cleanliness  of  person,  perfect  order  in  all  the 
household  economy ;  a  vase  of  flowers  here,  and  a  house- 
plant  there  ;  one  or  more  steel  engravings,  lithographs,  chro- 
mos  or  photographs  adorning  the  walls  ;  a  few  books,  and 


THE  LA  W  OF  GENIUS. 


149 


one  or  two  weekly  and  monthly  publications — all  these  are 
within  the  reach  of  the  poorest,  and  should  be  adopted  by 
all.  A  farmer’s  work  should  be  so  arranged  as  to  allow  him 
a  certain  portion  of  each  day  for  instruction  and  recreation. 

In  nothing  else  are  his  mistakes  so  demonstra¬ 
ble  as  in  the  daily  life  of  the  women  of  his  household  ;  for 
if  there  be  one  position  in  life  more  than  another  in  which  the 
term  “  slave”  is  applicable,  it  is  the  position  of  wife  and  wo- 
men-assistants  to  a  farmer.  A  woman,  in  her  health,  youth 
and  beauty,  marries  a  farmer,  and  in  a  few,  very  few  years 
she  is  woefully  altered.  The  everlasting  household  drudgery 
of  the  farm-life  dulls  and  lowers  her  fine  organization,  sinks 
all  the  spiritual  into  the  animal  of  her  nature,  and  unfits  her 
to  be  a  mother  in  Israel. 

The  principal  cause  of  this  overwork  in  the  woman,  next 
to  the  extra  drudgery  attendant  on  the  possession  of  an  over¬ 
sized  and  under- worked  farm,  is  in  the  preparation  of  the 
meals  for  the  family.  It  is  popularly  supposed  that  a  farmer 
requires  more  nourishment  than  any  other  class  of  laborers. 
This  is  so  only  in  a  measure,  and  if  farmers  would  adopt  a 
vegetarian  diet  and  the  two-meals-a-day  system,  of  break¬ 
fast  at  eight  and  dinner  at  two  or  three  o’clock,  they  would 
do  an  immense  deal  toward  helping  their  wives  to  a  more 
enjoyable  and  natural  mode  of  life ;  for  it  is  noticeable  that 
the  breakfast  is  not  well  over  before  it  is  time  to  commence 
dinner,  and  dinner  is  not  well  cleared  away  before  it  is  time 
for  supper ;  especially  is  this  so  in  the  short  days  of  winter. 
Now  most  of  the  overwork  can.  be  avoided  by  the  two-meals 
vegetarian  system.  The  adoption  of  this  plan  allows  the 
woman  time  for  recreation,  reading,  thought,  observation  ; 
while  the  farm-laborers,  husband  and  family  will,  after  being 
acclimated  to  this  new  mode  of  life,  be  stronger,  healthier, 
happier,  more  intelligent  and  wealthier.  This  system  of  veg¬ 
etarianism  and  two  meals  a  day  is  one  among  the  great  re¬ 
forms  of  the  age,  and  I  earnestly  advise,  not  alone  farmers, 
but  all  other  classes  of  society,  to  seriously  think  of  it,  to 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


150 

purchase  works  on  the  subject,  to  inquire  into  it,  and  espec¬ 
ially  to  give  it  a  long  and  thorough  trial,  and  in  no  wise, 
without  thought  and  reflection,  set  their  faces  against  it. 
Next  to  licentiousness,  gluttony  is  the  great  crying  evil  of 
the  day,  and  in  no  way  can  it  be  so  well  avoided  as  by  adopt¬ 
ing  the  system  of  a  vegetarian  diet  and  two  meals  a  day. 

I  do  not  intend,  at  this  time,  to  enlarge  on  the  benefits  to 
be  derived  from  vegetarianism  and  the  two-meals  system, 
but  will  here  give  an  extract  from  Adam  Smith’s  “  Wealth 
of  Nations,”  and  hope  it  will  tend  to  provoke  inquiry, 
thought  and  action  on  the  subject. 

Adam  Smith  informs  us  that — 

“  The  most  beautiful  women  in  the  British  dominions  are 
said  to  be,  the  greater  part  of  them,  from  the  lower  ranks  of 
the  people  of  Ireland,  who  are  generally  fed  with  potatoes. 
The  peasantry  of  Lancashire  and  Cheshire,  also,  who  live 
principally  on  potatoes  and  buttermilk,  are  celebrated  as  the 
handsomest  race  in  England. 

“  The  peasantry  of  Wales,  Norway,  Sweden,  Russia,  Den¬ 
mark,  Poland,  Germany,  Turkey,  Greece,  Switzerland,  Spain, 
Portugal,  and  almost  every  country  in  Europe,  from  the  most 
northern  part  of  Russia  to  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar,  subsist 
principally,  and  most  of  them  entirely,  on  vegetable  food. 
The  Persians,  Hindoos,  Burmese,  Chinese,  Japanese,  the  in¬ 
habitants  of  East  India  Archipelago,  of  the  mountains  of 
Himalayah,  and,  in  fact,  most  of  the  Asiatics,  live  upon  veg¬ 
etable  productions.  The  great  body  of  the  ancient  Egyp¬ 
tians  and  Persians  confined  themselves  to  a  vegetable  diet ; 
and  the  Egyptians  of  the  present  day,  as  well  as  the  Ne¬ 
groes  (whose  great  bodily  powers  are  well  known),  live 
chiefly  on  vegetable  substances.  The  brave  Spartans,  who, 
for  muscular  power,  physical  energy,  and  ability  to  endure 
hardships,  perhaps  stand  unequalled  in  the  history  of  na¬ 
tions,  were  vegetarians.  The  departure  from  their  simple 
diet  was  soon  followed  by  their  decline.  The  armies  of 
Greece  and  Rome,  in  the  times  of  their  unparalleled  con- 


THE  LA  W  OF  GENIUS.  1 5 1 

% 

quests,  subsisted  on  vegetable  productions.  In  the  training 
for  the  public  games  in  Greece,  where  muscular  strength  was 
to  be  exhibited  in  all  its  various  forms,  vegetable  food  was 
adhered  to  ;  but  when  flesh-meat  was  adopted  afterward, 
those  hitherto  athletic  men  became  sluggish  and  stupid. 
From  two- thirds  to  three-fourths  of  the  whole  human  fam¬ 
ily,  from  the  creation  of  the  species  to  the  present  time,  have 
subsisted  entirely,  or  nearly  so,  on  vegetable  food;  and  al¬ 
ways,  when  their  alimentary  supplies  of  this  kind  have  been 
abundant  and  of  good  quality,  and  their  habits  have  been  in 
other  respects  correct,  they  have  been  well  nourished  and 
well  sustained  in  all  the  physiological  interests  of  their  na¬ 
ture.” 

I  earnestly  enjoin  not  only  parents  who  are  farmers,  but 
all  other  parents  who  purpose  generating  a  new  life,  and  de¬ 
sire  to  practice  this  Law  of  Genius,  that  they  adopt  the  veg¬ 
etarian  mode  of  life,  for  it  will  tell  wonderfully  and  power¬ 
fully  on  the  beauty,  health,  strength,  intelligence  and  ability 
of  their  offspring. 

The  cities  would  be  no  cities  were  it  not  for  the  country. 
The  strength,  the  beauty,  the  ability,  the  bone  and  sinew  of 
a  nation’s  hopes  and  successes,  lie  dormant  in  the  men  and 
women  of  the  country ;  and  for  this  reason  have  I  said  so 
much  of  farmers  and  farming — because  of  its  very  great  im¬ 
portance. 

The  first  thing  the  husband  and  wife  should  do,  in  the 
formation  of  the  New  Life,  is  to  decide* on  the  particular 
trade  or  profession,  or  particular  department  of  that  trade  or 
profession,  the  unborn  is  to  follow — a  farmer,  actor,  watch¬ 
maker,  tanner,  singer,  musician,  orator,  historian,  landscape 
or  portrait  painter,  milliner,  merchant,  soldier,  shoemaker, 
manufacturer,  sculptor,  mechanic,  lecturer,  machinist,  preach¬ 
er,  printer,  phrenologist,  gardener,  inventor,  florist,  canvas¬ 
ser,  engraver,  chemist,  contractor,  author,  baker,  architect, 
dentist,  physician,  diplomatist,  explorer,  etc.  Each  of  these 
trades  or  professions  require  different  combinations  of  differ- 


152 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


ent  faculties  ;  and  yet,  as  will  be  shown  further  on,  it  is  not 
necessary  that  the  parents  have  any  previous  knowledge  of 
the  practical  workings  of  any  of  these  trades  or  professions, 
to  enable  them  to  transmit. the  desired  qualities  to  their  off¬ 
spring.- 

This  having  been  done,  the  next  move  is  a  series  of  self¬ 
inquiries,  by  the  parents,  concerning  different  qualities,  hab¬ 
its,  or  idiosyncrasies  of  character,  that  they  do  not  desire  to 
transmit  to  their  offspring.  Let  me  illustrate :  if  one  or 
both  parents  are  in  the  habit  of  using  tobacco — this  not  be¬ 
ing  a  desirable  quality  to  transmit — it  should,  if  only  for  a 
time,  be  rigidly  kept  out  of  the  system  ;  and  so  of  alcoholic 
liquors.  For  be  it  understood,  that  a  child  born  of  parents 
who  are  perfect,  pure,  and  clear  from  any  taint  of  tobacco  or 
alcohol,  will  noty  cannot ,  during  any  time  of  its  life  on  earth, 
be  bribed  or  tempted  to  touch  these  abominations  ;  whereas 
a  child  born  of  parents  who  use  both  will  take  as  naturally 
to  tobacco  and  whisky  as  does  the  father  or  mother.  In  this 
matter  of  transmitted  vices,  it  is  not  necessary  that  both  pa¬ 
rents  should  practice  them.  The  father  alone  doing  so  is 
sufficient.  A  husband  using  tobacco  or  alcoholic  liquors, 
living  in  the  same  house,  sleeping  in  the  same  bed  with  his 
wife,  cannot  do  so  without  her  organization  absorbing 
from  his,  the  debilitating  essence  of  the  excretory  de¬ 
partment  of  his  body.  This  of  itself  is  sufficient  to  trans¬ 
mit  the  habit,  not  to  mention  the  husband’s  direct  influence 
on  the  character  of  the  unborn. 

Again,  if  one  or  both  of  the  parents  lack  system  or  or¬ 
der,  they  should,  during  the  four  weeks  of  preparation,  as 
well  as  during  the  gestatory  and  nursing  periods,  cultivate  as¬ 
siduously  the  faculty  of  having  a  place  for  everything,  and 
everything  in  its  place.  Order  is  the  first  great  law  of  Na¬ 
ture.  Order  of  thought  of  mind,  of  person,  of  surround¬ 
ings,  of  action,  is  a  fundamental  necessity  to  success.  There¬ 
fore,  in  all  you  do,  from  the  least  thing  to  the  greatest,  care¬ 
fully  observe  order. 


THE  LA  W  OF  GENIUS. 


153 


Again,  if  one  or  both  parents  lack  truthfulness  of  charac¬ 
ter  and  action,  they  should  strive,  with  the  whole  force  of 
their  better  nature,  not  to  lie  in  thought,  word  or  action  ; 
for  if  there  be  one  sin  more  wide-spread  than  another,  in  this 
our  day  and  generation,  it  is  that  of  lying 

Again,  if  the  parents  lack  reverence  for  God  and  things 
holy,  they  should  cultivate  the  spiritual  and  devotional  of 
their  natures  during  this  period. 

Or  if  the  parents  have  any  other  undesirable  qualities  of 
thought  or  action,  great  or  small,  which  they  do  not  desire 
to  transmit,  they  should  persistently  avoid  them ,  and  strenu¬ 
ously  cultivate  the  opposite. 

So  far,  then,  it  is  understood  that  the  husband  and  wife 

are  lovingly  mated  ;  that  they  are  both  in  perfect  health, 

free  from  all  physical  and  mental  incongruities  ;  that  they 

have  lived  strictly  continent  lives ;  that  they  have  adopted 

the  Plan  of  Life  as  their  rule  of  life  ;  that  they  have  decided 

on  the  trade  or  profession  desired  in  the  offspring ;  that  they 

have  well-balanced  organizations,  and  can  generate  offspring 

of  happy,  sunny,  loving  dispositions ;  having  some  one  trait 

of  character  the  exercise  of  which  constitutes  genius  ;  and 

that,  finally,  they  both  knowingly,  earnestly,  and  lovingly 
•  •  ■»* 
desire  to  produce  a  child. 

Now  we  have  arrived  at  the  commencement  of  the  period 
of  Introductory  Preparation — the  four  weeks  preceding  the 
time  fixed  for  the  generative  act.  This  period  should  be 
characterized  by  its  intensity  of  thought,  feeling  and  action 
in  the  parents.  They  should  work  together  lovingly,  per¬ 
sistently,  determinedly,  in  the  direction  for  the  formation  of 
the  character  of  the  New  Life.  If  they  have  bad  habits  of 
mind  and  body,  they  should,  with  the  whole  force  of  strong 
and  determined  wills,  trample  them  under  foot,  annihilate 
them,  forget  them,  and  in  their  stead  cultivate  the  right,  the 
true,  the  pure  and  the  beautiful. 

This  much  determined  on  and  acted  on,  brings  us  to  the 
requisites  necessary  to  establish,  in  the  life-tissue  of  the  un- 


154 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


born,  the  pursuit  of  life  intended  for  its  support  and  educa¬ 
tion,  happiness  and  welfare,  while  in  this  world — a  trade  or 
profession — the  faculty  or  combination  of  faculties  required 
for  such  having  in  their  origin  and  exercise  the  element  of 
genius. 

Just  here  a  new  difficulty  may  suggest  itself.  “What  if 
we  decide  upon  a  trade  or  profession  intended  for  an  unborn 
boy,  and  a  girl  should  present  herself  instead?”  This  can 
be  avoided  by  attention  to  the  paragraphs  on  the  Theory  of 
Sex  in  a  former  chapter.  Yet,  if  these  theories  should  fail 
in  their  application,  no  harm  would  be  done — rather 
good.  There  should  be  no  station  in  life  in  which  man 
works  that  woman,  under  right  conditions,  should  not  be 
competent  to  fill.  And  she  can  and  will  fill  it,  in  opposition 
to  all  opposers  of  “  Woman’s  Rights,”  if  from  her  birth  she 
be  endowed  with  the  genius  requisite  for  its  demonstration. 
Endow  the  unborn  woman  with  the  genius  for  an  inventor, 
lecturer,  farmer,  chemist,  sculptor,  editor,  jeweler,  naviga¬ 
tor,  soldier,  etc.,  and  she  will,  notwithstanding  all  opposition, 
assert  her  ability  and  individuality  over  her  mediocre  male 
competitors.  Therefore,  if,  on  closely  following  the  Theory 
of  Sex,  it  should  fail  in  its  hoped-for  results,  be  not  discour¬ 
aged,  but  carry  out  precisely  the  same  line  of  preparation  as 
would  have  been  done  if  the  birth  had  been  of  the  male 
sex. 

I  will,  by  way  of  illustrating  the  habits  of  thought  and 
action  the  husband  and  wife  should  follow,  give  the  details  of 
preparation  for  one  or  more  trades  or  professions  : 

Let  us  suppose  that  it  is  the  desire  of  the  parents  to  have 
a  child  who  will  be  an  inventor.  In  this  case  the  parents 
should  practically  cultivate,  by  thought,  word  and  action, 
the  requirements  for  a  genius  for  invention,  and  this  choice 
of  employment  can  be  made  through  the  attempt  to  discover 
a  new  motor  power  to  the  origination  of  some  article  or  im¬ 
provement  that  would  apply  to  every-day  household  require¬ 
ments,  and  that  would  be  a  necessity  to  the  age.  Make 


THE  LA  W  OF  GENIUS . 


155 


models  of  it,  think  of  it,  talk  of  it.  They  should  subscribe 
to  one  or  more  scientific  papers,  should  read  the  lives  of  em¬ 
inent  inventors,  and  especially  study  and  interpret  scientific 
works  ;  the  husband  and  wife  to  work  together,  think  to¬ 
gether,  talk  together,  experiment  together,  with  the  enthu¬ 
siasm  of  intensely  interested  souls. 

Just  here  it  would  be  well  to  observe  that,  previous  to  the 
commencement  of  any  conformity  to  the  Law  of  Genius,  it 
is  almost  absolutely  necessary  that  the  parents  should  supply 
themselves  with  all  the  books  and  any  papers  that  may  be 
devoted  to  the  specialty  of  the  trade  or  profession  they  pur¬ 
pose  endowing  the  New  Life  with. 

This  may  entail  some  expense  at  the  time,  but  nothing  in 
comparison  to  what  it  would  cost,  in  after  years,  to  educate 
their  children  and  train  them  for  some  special  trade  or  pro¬ 
fession,  which  they  would  probably  have  no  taste  for.  And 
here  it  should  be  recorded  that  poets,  novelists,  inventors, 
etc.,  are  not  made  by  education  or  training ;  they  are  and 
must  be  bomi  with  the  quality  of  genius ,  else  all  the  teaching 
and  training  of  a  life-time  will  be  of  no  avail.  They  will 
ever  remain  at  or  below  the  level  of  mediocrity  ;  they  never 
will,  never  possibly  can,  rise  into  the  realms  where  genius 
predominates  and  directs. 

There  is  no  such  thing  as  a  “  self-made  man,”  concerning 
whom  we  hear  and  read  so  much  of ;  for  if  a  man  has  not 
transmitted  to  him  by  his  parents  the  qualities  necessary  to 
great  success,  all  the  self-exertion  of  a  life-time  will  not  raise 
him  above  the  line  of  mediocrity  ;  whereas,  if  a  child  is  en¬ 
dowed  with  genius — supposing  he  be  suckled  in  poverty, 
reared  in  adversity,  and  attain  his  growth  in  rags — he  will, 
despite  his  advent  under  such  adverse  circumstances,  rise — 
slowly,  it  may  be,  but  nevertheless  surely — into  the  dignity 
of  success,  and  the  rank  of  that  of  a  so-called  “  self-made 
man,”  which  is  but  a  name  or  indication  of  a  worked- out 
and  developed  quality  of  transmitted  genius. 

In  the  expense  for  the  education  of  a  child,  the  debtor 


156 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


side  of  the  account  should  be  opened  before  the  child  is  gen¬ 
erated — at  least  before  the  end  of  its  pre-natal  existence. 
This  early  opening  of  the  account  will  do  more  toward  the 
after-education  of  the  child  than  all  the  schools,  academies 
and  colleges  in  Christendom. 

If  it  is  desired  to  make  the  New  Life  a  fruit-  grower  (a 
more  natural,  pleasant,  and  happier  life  than  which  is  not  to 
be  found),  the  parents  should  devote  their  whole  attention  to 
such.  They  should  experiment  with  different  varieties  of 
fruits,  should  study  the  nature  of  fruit-sex,  and  the  origina¬ 
ting  of  new  varieties,  and  they  should  together  enthusiastic¬ 
ally  read,  study  and — eat  fruit. 

Or  a  geologist.  They  should  together  take  long  walks, 
into  different  parts  of  the  country,  and  study  the  earth’s  na¬ 
ture  or  formation,  and  especially  read,  get  interested  in  and 
admire  books  on  the  subject. 

Or  a  working  engineer.  The  wife,  after  discarding  her 
fashionable,  wide  and  long  dress,  and  adopting  a  short,  close, 
comfortable,  and  more  natural  costume,  should  have  the 
privilege  of  assisting  or  working  with  her  husband  in  a  ma¬ 
chine-shop  or  engine-room.  They  together,  with  their  books 
on  the  subject,  and  papers  with  the  latest  mechanical  discov¬ 
eries,  should  get  intensely  interested  in  all  the  details  of  me¬ 
chanical  movements,  power,  velocity,  etc. 

Or  a  portrait  painter.  In  the  direction  of  artist-life,  it  is 
desirable  that  the  wife  have  a  slight  taste  for  or  knowledge 
of  drawing.  Yet,  if  the  woman  is  anxious  and  earnest  in  the 
desire  to  have  her  child  an  artist,  this  may  not  be  required. 
After  reading  books  on  the  subject,  the  lives  of  eminent  art¬ 
ists,  and  perhaps  a  few  lessons  (or  lessons  may  be  taken  du¬ 
ring  the  three  periods  of  transmitted  influence,  though  this 
would  have  a  tendency  to  destroy  originality),  let  the  pa¬ 
rents — but  especially  the  wife — every  day  of  this  season  of 
preparation  practice  drawing  and  painting.  Let  them 
encourage  one  another,  help  one  another,  and  especially  en¬ 
deavor  to  excel  each  other.  The  same  directions  apply  to 


THE  LA  W  OF  GENIUS. 


157 


landscape  and  animal  painting,  still  life,  etc. ;  only  it  must  be 
remembered  that  in  this  department,  as  in  all  others,  when 
they  are  capable  of  subdivision,  only  one  department  or  spec¬ 
ialty  must  be  adopted.  If  it  is  the  desire  to  have  a  child  who 
will  be  a  portrait  painter — let  it  be  only  a  portrait  painter ; 
if  a  painter  of  humorous  scenes  of  life — let  only  the  comic 
side  of  life  be  transferred  to  paper,  and  canvass. 

•Or,  if  a  teacher,  let  the  husband  and  wife  take  charge  for 
a  time  of  a  small  class  of  children — including  their  own,  if 
they  have  any — on  week-days,  and  a  class  on  Sunday.  Let 
them  lovingly  and  knowingly  educate  these  children,  and  in 
educating  them  let  them  apply  the  rudiments  of  phrenology 
and  physiognomy  in  the  character  of  the  analysis  of  each 
pupil,  and  in  their  instruction  and  management  let  them  be 
guided  by  this  analysis.  The  position  of  teacher  is  one  of 
the  most  important  positions  in  this  world,  and  I  think  no 
man  or  woman  should  be  one  unless  they  know  how  to  ap¬ 
ply  the  truths  of  phrenology.  Beside  this,  the  parents  in 
turn  should  give  the  pupils  short  lectures  or  discourses  on 
practical  physiology,  the  right  and  wrong  way  of  life,  etc. 
The  adoption  of  this  pursuit  for  the  unborn  child,  and  its.  ac¬ 
tive  and  intense  application  by  the  parents  insures  to  the 
New  Life  the  genius  for  teaching,  lecturing,  and  analyzing 
human  character,  thought  and  action.  It  is  a  splendid 
department  in  the  world’s  workshop,  this  one  of  teacher  and 
lecturer, — and  one  in  which  there  is  much  mediocrity 
and  very  little  genius. 

Or,  if  a  musician,  let  the  parents  learn,  understand  and 
practice  music,  and  let  it  be  but  one  of  its  many  depart¬ 
ments — sacred,  operatic,  social,  martial,  comic  or  national. 
Let  them  try  to  compose  original  pieces,  and  continue  try¬ 
ing.  A  song-writer  and  music-composer  combined  in  the 
same  individual  is  rare,  and  yet  it  gives  the.  composer  a  won¬ 
derful  advantage  to  set  music  to  his  own  words.  The  pa¬ 
rents  having  the  shadow  of  ability  in  this  two-fold  direction, 
should  carry  out  and  impress  the  desire  on  the  soul  of  the 
unborn. 


158 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


Or,  if  a  short-hand  reporter,  let  the  parents  obtain  the 
books,  learn  the  art,  and  together  industriously  practice  it. 

And  so  of  any  other  trade  or  profession  in  life,  from  the 
smallest  to  the  greatest,  the  positive,  determined,  and  loving 
exercise  of  the  faculties  required  in  the  knowledge  of  it  will 
insure  their  great  increase  and  improvement  in  the  character 
of  the  New  Life. 

This  Law  of  Genius  can  be  followed  by  the  poorest  as  well 
as  richest,  and  is  as  much  a  requirement  to  the  day-laborer 
as  to  the  diplomatist.  The  quality  of  genius  is  as  necessary 

4 

to  the  making  of  a  pair  of  boots  as  in  the  directing  of  an 
army ;  as  necessary  in  the  hoeing  of  a  hill  of  corn  as  in  the 
construction  of  a  steamship  ;  as  necessary  in  the  building  of 
a  stone  fence  as  in  the  erection  of  a  cathedral — and,  for  these 
reasons,  this  law  should  be  observed  by  all  mankind. 

It  must  be  understood  that  the  parents,  in  the  observance  of 
this  law  during  the  period  of  transmitted  influence,  do  not 
require  to  learn  any  trade  or  profession  they  fix  on,  so  much 
as  to  try  to  learn  it.  In  this  ten  months  of  determined  effort 
lies  concealed  the  influence  that  makes  the  child  a  genius. 
The  active  exercise  of  any  organ  or  combination  of  organs, 
in  the  continued  and  persistent  direction  of  any  particular 
employment,  causes  a  large  flow  of  blood  and  increased  ner¬ 
vous  power  in  that  organ,  or  combination  of  organs,  which 
is  reflected  directly  to  the  self-same  organs  of  the  child  in 
utero,  which  in  their  plastic  state  take  on  in  size ,  quality  and 
power ,  the  elements  which  constitute  genius. 

Therefore,  parents  will  understand  that  in  the  exercise  of 
the  requirements  essential  to  establish  genius  in  their  un¬ 
born  child,  it  is  not  so  necessary. to  acquire  a  full  knowl¬ 
edge  of  the  particular  trade  or  profession  as  it  is  to  try ,  to 
experiment ,  to  endeavor.  Try  hard ,  try  persistently ,  try  con¬ 
stantly ,  during  the  period  of  transmitted  influence ,  and  my 
word  on  it — aye,  my  very  life  on  it,  the  results  will  more 
than  exceed  your  greatest  hopes  and  most  anxious  de¬ 


sires. 


THE  LA  W  OF  GENIUS. 


*59 


Genius  of  itself,  unless  well  directed,  is  not  to  be  desired, 
and  to  this  end  there  are  what  are  called  governing  faculties, 
and  faculties  that  assist  and  wait  on  the  predominant  power. 
The  principal  of  these,  and  ones  that  should  ever  be  present 
in  the  life-plans  of  the  individual,  are  the  moral  sentiments. 
No  child  should  be  brought  into  the  world  without  its  hav¬ 
ing  within  it  the  essence  of  a  religious  nature,  a  Christian 
nature,  a  truthful  nature,  a  hopeful  nature,  a  benevolent,  de¬ 
votional,  spiritual  nature.  Our  existence  on  this  earth  be¬ 
ing  but  transitory,  and  intended  only  as  a  preparation  for  a 
higher  and  holier  life,  the  cultivation  and  transmission  of  the 
moral  sentiments  is  a  necessity  to  every  man  and  woman 
born  of  the  flesh. 

And  this  being  so,  it  is  also  a  necessity  to  genius  ;  for  ge¬ 
nius,  guided  by  the  religious  element,  is  intensified  and  glo¬ 
rified  ;  while,  if  directed  by  the  propensities,  it  is  apt  to  err, 
to  trip  and  fall. 

Therefore,  when  the  parents  have  chosen  the  line  of  life 
for  the  unborn,  in  which  they  desire  in  full  measure  the  qual¬ 
ity  of  genius  to  be  transmitted,  they  should  exercise  assidu¬ 
ously  the  religious  of  their  natures.  And  this  exercise  does 
not  imply  only  the  attendance  at  church  twice  a  week  and 
an  occasional  prayer-meeting ;  for  a  man  or  woman  may  ex¬ 
ercise  the  spiritual  of  their  nature  and  never  see  the  inside 
of  a  church.  It  is  required  that  the  parents  live,  in  every¬ 
day  thought,  word  and  action,  a  religious  life ;  for  a  religion 
that  can  be  put  on  and  taken  off  as  a  garment  is  not  true 
religion — it  is  but  a  counterfeit.  True  religion  implies  that 
the  parents  daily  and  hourly  should  aspire  after  goodness, 
virtue  and  purity  ;  that  they  knowingly  do  no  wrong ;  that 
they  look  only  on  the  bright  side  of  life  ;  that  they  have  ever¬ 
present  sympathy  for  the  suffering,  the  wronged  and  op¬ 
pressed,  and  do  good  without  the  hope  of  reward  ;  that  they 
possess  faith,  are  spiritual-minded,  and  have  a  reverence  for 
religion  and  things  sacred.  These  attributes  the  parents 
should  endeavor  to  cherish  and  intensify,  and  so  incorporate 


i6o 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


them  with  the  soul  of  the  unborn.  Every  night  and  every 
morning,  on  bended  knees,  an  earnest,  whole-souled  prayer 
should  be  sent  heavenward,  offering  thanks  for  past  successes, 
uttering  hopes  and  desires  for  future  plans.  An  intensely 
uttered  earnest  desire,  repeated  morning  and  evening,  will 
originate  the  power  to  do,  start  the  effort,  and  secure  the 
end.  In  these  morning  and  evening  exercises,  the  hus¬ 
band  and  wife  should  alternately  give  voice  to  the  express¬ 
ions  of  thanksgiving  and  desire. 

Closely  allied  to  the  power  of  genius  and  beauty  of  holi¬ 
ness  is  beauty  of  person.  The  fortunate  possessor  of  beauty 
— a  beauty  that  is  the  outgrowth  of  a  strong  and  healthy 
body,  lovable  spirit,  and  educated  intellect,  has  a  magic  tal¬ 
isman  that  wonderfully  helps  to  success  in  all  life’s  endeavors. 
It  is  wrong  to  discourage  the  culture  of  soul-beauty,  for  in 
all  God’s  works  there  is  an  ever-present  growth  toward  the 
beautiful.  Parents  can  as  easily  have  beautiful  children  as 
they  can  homely  ones.  It  should  be  remembered,  in  this 
direction,  that  the  highest  type  of  beauty  in  the  offspring  is 
only  attainable  by  those  who  live  a  pure,  healthy,  continent 
life,  and  who  exercise  the  intellectual  of  their  natures  equally 
with  the  physical.  The  possession  of  surface,  or  doll-like 
beauty  is  not  consonant  with  genius.  To  the  end  of  attain¬ 
ing  the  beautiful  in  the  child  of  genius,  it  is  necessary  for 
the  parents  to  surround  themselves  with  the  beautiful  in  art 
and  nature.  Their  living-room,  which  should  be  the  largest, 
lightest  and  pleasantest  room  in  the  house,  should  have  on 
its  walls  pictures  that  are  gems  of  natural  or  idealized  beauty. 
Plaster  casts  and  bas-reliefs  of  face  and  form  should  fill  con¬ 
venient  niches  and  corners,  and  if  they  live  in  or  near  a  city, 
art  and  picture  galleries  should  be  frequented. 

Now  it  might  be  that  these  requirements  for  the  attain¬ 
ment  of  beauty  in  the  offspring  may  not  be  within  the  reach 
of  all  parents ;  and  this  may  be  so  and  yet  beautiful  children 
may  be  generated.  Let  the  parents  get  one  picture — it  may 
be  an  ideal  face,  or  the  face  of  a  beautiful  person — and  let 


THE  LA  W  OF  GENIUS . 


161 


them  get  a  picture  of  a  perfect  human  form.  The  pictures 
may  be  lithographs,  chromos,  or  photographs  handsomely 
colored.  Let  the  wife  and  husband  impress  the  beautiful 
face  of  the  one  and  the  beautiful  form  of  the  other  on  their 
minds.  Let  them  constantly  admire  them,  and  especially 
earnestly  desire  a  child  having  a  like  resemblance,  and  they 
will  without  fail  have  embodied  in  their  child’s  organization 
beauty  of  form  and  face. 

“  A  gentleman  had  hanging  in  his  room  a  beautiful 
portrait,  of  which  a  friend,  as  he  once  entered  the  room, 
when  this  gentleman’s  child  was  sitting  in  it,  exclaimed  : 
‘  Why,  what  a  fine  likeness  that  is  of  your  child  !’  'No,’  re¬ 

plied  the'  gentleman,  ‘  the  child  is  the  likeness  of  the  pic¬ 
ture.’  ‘  How  so  ?’  inquired  his  friend.  It  proved  that  the 
mother  of  his  child  had  so  intensely  kept  the  image  of  this 
picture  in  her  mind,  and  looked  at  it  so  much  and  so  admir¬ 
ingly,  during  her  pregnancy,  that  it  reflected  its  beauties 
upon  the  young  child’s  face  !  It  had  daguerreotyped  them 
there,  both  in  color  and  in  features.” 

As  far  back  as  the  days  of  Jacob  this  law  was  understood 
and  practiced,  for  in  the  Book  of  Genesis  we  are  told  that 
“  Jacob  took  him  rods  of  green  poplar  and  of  the  hazel  and 
chestnut  tree,  and  pilled  white  streaks  in  them,  and  made 
the  white  appear  which  was  in  the  rods.  And  he  set  the 
rods  which  he  had  pilled  before  the  flocks  in  the  gutters 
and  in  the  watering-troughs  when  the  flocks  came  to  drink, 
that  they  should  conceive  when  they  came  to  drink.  And 
the  flocks  conceived  before  the  rods  and  brought  forth  cat¬ 
tle,  ring-streaked,  speckled  and  spotted.  And  it  came  to 
pass,  whensoever  the  stronger  cattle  did  conceive,  that  Jacob 
laid  the  rods  before  the  eyes  of  the  cattle  in  the  gutters,  that 
they  might  conceive  among  the  rods.  But  when  the  cattle 
were  feeble  he  put  them  not  in  ;  so  the  feebler  were  Laban’s 
and  the  stronger  Jacob’s.” 

Conceived  under  right  conditions,  a  child  may  be  made  to 
take  on  any  form  of  face  and  body — a  beautiful  face  and 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


162 

perfect  form,  or  a  plain  face  and  unsymmetrical  form.  And 
this  law,  necessary  to  all  parents  and  applicable  to  all  na¬ 
tures,  is  as  old  as  is  God’s  conception  of  this  beautiful 
world. 

Next  in  importance  to  genius,  holiness  and  beauty  in  the 
offspring,  is  a  sunny,  cheerful,  laughing  disposition.  One 
great  cause  of  trouble  in  the  rearing  of  a  family — next  to 
wrong  habits  of  life — is  the  constantly  fretful,  irritable,  peev¬ 
ish,  cross,  crying  dispositions  of  the  children,  entailing  on  the 
parents  a  world  of  trouble  in  their  care  and  management. 
Now  it  is  just  as  easy  for  a  mother  to  have  a  baby  that  will 
be  of  a  cheerful,  sunny  nature,  will  be  to  her,  in  truth  and  in 
deed,  “the  sunshine  of  life,”  as  it  is  to  give  birth  to  a  child 
of  a  fretful  and  unhappy  disposition,  and  be  to  her  a  source 
of  life-long  trouble.  To  this  end,  during  the  period  of  trans¬ 
mitted  influence,  the  parents  should  not  allow  the  shadow  of 
a  trouble  to  cross  their  paths.  They  should  determine  to 
make  the  best  of  everything.  If  the  house  burn  down,  or 
they  fail  in  business,  or  serious  accidents  occur,  let  them  go 
uncomplainingly,  joyously,  even  laughingly,  and  repair  their 
losses.  As  to  the  minor  cares  and  troubles  that  infest 
life’s  pathway,  let  them  persistently  determine  to  laugh  them 
out  of  countenance.  In  all  the  greater  troubles  of  life  let 
them  hopefully,  lovingly  and  joyously  look  for  and  see  only 
the  bright  side — the  silver  lining  to  the  dark  cloud  ;  if  not  at 
all  times,  at  least  during  the  season  of  transmitted  influ¬ 
ence. 

Doing  this  faithfully  and  hopefully,  you  will  have  a  child 
that,  in  its  well  directed  genius,  its  perfect  beauty,  and  hap¬ 
py,  sunny,  laughing  nature,  will  be  a  joy,  and  glory,  and 
happiness  to  you  all  the  years  of  your  life,  and  that  will 
make  you  envied  above  all  womankind. 

A  requisite  to  the  acquirement  of  an  intellectual,  religious, 
beautiful  and  sunny  nature  in  the  life  of  the  offspring,  is  a 
life  of  chastity — of  strict  continence.  I  do  earnestly  advise 
that  husbands  and  wives,  in  the  practice  of  this  Law  of  Ge- 


THE  LAW  OF  GENIUS.  1 63 

nius,  and  during  the  period  of  transmitted  influence,  observe 
closely  the  Law  of  Continence,  and  refrain  at  all  times  and 
under  all  conditions  from  the  sexual  act,  save  and  only  as  it 
is  required  to  start  the  New  Life  on  its  voyage  into  life  and 
eternity.  Do  you  know  why  it  is  there  is  so  much  licen¬ 
tiousness  in  the  world  ?  Do  you  know  why  a  son,  while  yet 
a  boy,  practices  self-abuse  ?  Do  you  know  why  a  son,  be¬ 
fore  even  he  has  reached  manhood,  seeks  through  prostitu¬ 
tion  and  seduction  to  foul,  blot  and  weaken  his  soul  and 
body  ?  Do  you  know  why  it  is  that  a  daughter  allows  her 
purity  to  be  defiled,  and  takes  so  naturally,  as  many  of  them 
do,  to  a  life  of  prostitution  ?  Would  you,  oh !  parents,  solve 
these  questions  ?  You  have  but  to  ask  yourselves  :  “  did 

we  obey  this  divine  law  of  continence  ?  Did  we,  during 
the  season  of  transmitted  influence,  refrain  from  all  sex¬ 
ual  sin  ?”  For  if  you  have  not  done  these  things,  and  have 
exercised  at  any  or  all  times  the  licentious  that  is  within 
you,  you  have  transmitted  the  qualities  that  went  to  make 
your  boy  an  Onanist  or  a  sensualist,  and  your  daughter  a 
prostitute,  and  you  stand  guilty  before  God  for  this  great 
wrong  done  your  children. 

Much  more  might  be  said  on  the  responsibility  of  parents 
in  transmitting  bad  qualities  of  head  and  heart  to  their  chil¬ 
dren,  and  the  importance  of  the  avoidance  of  these  bad 
qualities  by  the  parents  during  the  period  of  transmitted  in¬ 
fluence  ;  but  as  what  I  have  already  recorded  will  enable  all 
parents  desirous  of  propagating  clean,  pure,  intelligent,  truth¬ 
ful,  religious,  bright,  happy,  sunny,  laughing  offspring,  it 
were  needless  to  say  more.  Parents  of  advanced  minds  and 
ready  convictions  will  need  no  further  law  or  argument  to 
decide  them  on  following  this  only  true  mode  of  generating 
a  new  soul ;  while  of  parents  who  are  of  slow,  unconvinceable, 
mulish  natures,  all  the  laws  nnd  arguments  of  eighteen  cen¬ 
turies  compressed  into  a  dozen  pages  would  not  persuade 
them  to  alter  their  mode  of  life.  “  No  ;  what  was  good 
enough  for  my  parents  and  grandparents  is  good  enough  for 


164 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


me.”  In  the  rapid  strides  of  social  progress,  this  class  of 
“  doubting  Thomases”  must  eventually  see  the  folly  of  their 
old  ways,  and  turn  into  the  full  light  of  this  Science  of  a  New 
Life,  or  else  relapse  into  barbarism. 

There  is  one  more  point  to  be  touched  on  before  ending 
this  chapter,  and  that  is  the  subject  of  money.  The  feverish 
pursuit  of  money  is  and  will  be  a  sad  preventive  to  the  gen¬ 
eral  adoption  of  this  Science  of  a  New  Life,  for  the  hot 
haste  for  wealth  leads  mankind  very  far  from  the  true  line  of 
life.  The  devotee  of  the  god  Mammon  must,  if  he  desires 
success,  devote  every  hour  of  his  life — apart  from  the  few 
daily  hours  applied  to  eating  and  sleeping — in  getting  and 
keeping  other  men’s  earnings  ;  and  in  doing  this,  other  men’s 
wants  and  sufferings  are  ignored,  and  the  human  in  his  na¬ 
ture  is  blunted.  He  cannot  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  life — not 
even  the  air  he  breathes,  the  food  he  eats,  or  the  water  he 
drinks.  Wife  and  children  are  to  him  a  very  secondary  con¬ 
sideration.  Witness  our  friend  Robinson  ;  “  he  has  made 
one  fortune,  but  did  not  consider  it  large  enough,  and  is  now 
busy  in  making  another.  He  is  off  to  the  city  at  8  A.M., 
never  returning  till  8  P.M.,  and  then  so  worn  out  and  jaded 
that  he  cares  for  nothing  beyond  his  dinner  and  sleep.  His 
beautiful  house,  his  conservatories  and  pleasure-grounds  de¬ 
light  not  him  ;  he  never  enjoys — he  only  pays  for  them.  He 
has  a  charming  wife  and  a  beautiful  family,  but  he  sees  little 
of  either — the  latter,  indeed,  he  never  sees  at  all,  except  on 
Sundays.  He  comes  home  so  tired  that  the  children  would 
only  worry  him.  To  them  ‘papa’  is  almost  a  stranger. 
They  know  him  only  as  a  periodical  incumbrance  on  the 
household  life,  which  generally  makes  it  much  less  pleasant. 
And  when  they  grow  up  it  is  to  such  a  totally  different  ex¬ 
istence  from  his,  that  they  usually  quietly  ignore  him.  ‘  Oh, 
papa  cares  nothing  about  this  ;  no,  no,  we  never  think  of 
telling  papa  anything’ — until  some  day  papa  will  die  and 
leave  them  a  quarter  of  a  million.  But  how  much  better  to 
leave  them  what  no  money  can  ever  buy — the  remembrance 


THE  LA  W  OF  GENIUS. 


165 


or  d  father  !  A  real  father,  whose  guardianship  made  home 
safe — whose  tenderness  filled  it  with  happiness — who  was 
companion  and  friend,  as  well  as  ruler  and  guide — whose  in¬ 
fluence  interpenetrated  every  day  of  their  lives,  every  feeling 
of  their  hearts — who  was  not  merely  the  author  of  their  be¬ 
ings,  but  the  originator  and  educator  of  everything  good  in 
them — the  visible  father  on  earth,  who  made  them  under¬ 
stand  dimly  (our  Father  which  is  in  heaven.’  ” 

The  feverish  pursuit  of  wealth  is  to  be  deprecated  and 
avoided  by  all  men  whose  desire  it  is  to  “live  while  they 
live.”  Money,  I  grant  you,  is  a  requirement  in  life’s  travels; 
but  in  getting  it  make  haste  slowly — very  slowly.  Do  not 
start  in  life  with  the  intention  of  accumulating  a  fortune  and 
then  retiring  to  enjoy  it.  This  retiring  on  the  getting  of  a 
fortune  is  one  of  the  great  mistakes  of  life ;  for  no  man  or 
woman  should  think  of  retiring  from  life’s  work  until  they 
retire  to  their  graves.  The  man  who  lives  a  true  and  pure 
life,  works  until  he  is  forty,  sixty,  or  ninety  years  of  age — 
every  day  of  his  life,  until  the  day  comes  when,  tired  of  life’s 
work,  he  desires  and  longs  to  leave  this  world  ;  and  he  lies 
down  to  sleep,  and  in  sleeping,  without  fear  or  pain,  his  soul 
escapes  to  higher  realms. 

Do  not  let  the  getting  of  money  interfere  with  your  en¬ 
deavors  for  a  true  life.  Get  it  by  all  legitimate  means,  but 
get  only  what  is  required  for  your  present  wants,  and  to 
guard  against  prospective  accidents.  In  doing  this  you  in¬ 
sure  more  practical  enjoyment  and  happiness  than  ever  was 
dreamed  of  by  the  man  whose  sole  object  in  life  is  the  get¬ 
ting  of  money. 

This  brings  us  once  more  to  the  commencement  point  in 
the  period  of  transmitted  influence — the  four  weeks  of  in¬ 
troductory  preparation.  The  husband  and  wife,  having  de¬ 
cided  on  the  right  course  to  be  adopted  for  influencing  the 
character  of  the  Newr  Life,  should  with  all  the  force  of  their 
wills  and  intensity  of  Their  natures  practice,  by  thought, 
word  and  action,  the  desire  for  the  implanting  of  a  right  life 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


1 66 

in  the  New  Life.  Especially  should  the  husband,  during 
this  preliminary  four  weeks,  exercise  his  department  of 
thought  and  action,  for  it  is  his  only  chance  to  influence  di¬ 
rectly  the  character  of  the  unborn.  The  following  is  an  il¬ 
lustration  from  Darwin  : 

“  A  country  gentleman,  being  much  enamored  of  the 
daughter  of  a  farmer  on  his  estate,  was  unable  to  conquer 
her  virtuous  scruples  ;  but  her  image  being  constantly  pres¬ 
ent  to  his  mind,  his  wife  conceived  and  bore  him  a  child 
whose  features  presented  a  perfect  resemblance  to  the  object 
of  his  affections.” 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  husband  and  wife  must 
have  precisely  the  same  objects  in  view,  and  that  each  pa¬ 
rent,  during  this  four  weeks  of  introductory  preparation, 
must,  in  thought,  word  and  deed,  act  out  this  object,  with 
all  the  vitalized  intensity  of  will  and  desire  their  natures  can 
bring  to  the  effort. 


\ 


* 


PART 


» 


SECOND. 


\ 


THE  CONSUMMATION 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


THE  CONCEPTION  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 

PROPER  season  for  con¬ 
ception  is  an  important 
consideration  in  the  gene¬ 
rating  of  a  strong  and 
healthy  offspring. 

The  best  month  for  this 
purpose  is  the  month  of 
August  or  September;  this 
would  bring  the  birth  of 
the  child  in  the  month  of 
May,  when  the  New  Life 
would  commence  its  exist  , 
ence  at  the  same  time  the 
old  earth  renews  the  youth 
of  its  years.  The  advan¬ 
tage  in  this  choice  o  f 
months,  if  any  choice  be 
necessary,  is  that  the  child 
can  enjoy  what  it  so  much  requires — out- door  life.  This,  of 
course,  applies  only  to  the  colder  belts  of  the  continent. 
Too  much  out-door  light  and  exercise  cannot  possibly  be 
furnished  the  young  life,  and  at  no  season  of  the  year  is  the 
earth  so  enjoyable  to  the  old  as  well  as  young  as  in  the 
spring,  with  its  wealth  of  green  verdure  and  its  fragrant 
buds  and  blossoms,  its  warm  atmosphere,  clear  sky  and 


169 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE . 


170 

bright  sun.  Childhood  revels  in  it — grows  strong,  healthy 
and  bright  Ln  it.  .  If  a  child  of  a  score  of  weeks  old,  born  in 
the  genial  spring-time,  was  gifted  with  language,  its  uttered 
reverie  would  run  in  this  wise  : 

“  Well,  here  I  am — there  is  no  doubt  of  that ;  but  where 
I  am  is  a  question  for  early  consideration.  I  have  traveled, 
and  know  all  about  where  I  am.  I  have  been  into  the  gar¬ 
den  and  fields,  and  my  private  opinion  to  you  is  that  this  is 
a  pretty  world.  When  I  was  out  I  felt  happy — very  happy. 
I  revelled  on  the  green  grass  and  among  the  beautiful  flow¬ 
ers  ;  I  tried  to  catch  the  sun’s  rays,  but  could  not.  I  could, 
I  think,  live  here  for  ever,  so  bright  and  beautiful  is  this  new 
existence.  I  have  had  a  happy  time ;  but  I  am  very  tired. 
I  think,  mother,  your  baby  is  going  to  sleep.” 

Children  born  in  the  fall  and  winter  of  a  necessity  have  to 
be  much  in-doors,  and  this  confinement  in  badly  ventilated 
rooms  greatly  tends  to  fretting  and  sickness ;  whereas,  if 
born  in  the  spring,  and  having  every  day  out-door  exercise, 
their  vital  powers  get  so  strengthened  as  to  enable  them  to 
enjoy  cold  weather,  and  resist  any  bad  effects  arising  from 
it. 

As  mentioned  on  a  former  page,  conception  should  occur 
immediately  following  the  cessation  of  the  menses  or  monthly 
courses,  because  at  this  time  the  egg  is  in  its  firmest  and 
freshest  state,  and,  when  impregnated,  is  more  likely  at  this 
time  than  later  to  develop  a  strong  and  healthy  organism. 

Next  in  importance  is  the  time  of  day  that  should  be  se¬ 
lected  for  sexual  congress.  As  though  there  was  something 
sinful  and  wrong  in  it,  the  hours  of  darkness  are  usually  em¬ 
ployed  for  this  purpose.  There  is  as  little  of  reason  used  in 
this  choice  of  hours,  by  the  majority  of  mankind,  as  in  the 
observance  of  any  other  department  of  the  reproductive 
law.  Now  the  best  and  only  physiological  time  to  generate 
a  new  life  is  in  the  broad  light  of  a  clear,  bright  day.  Light 
implies  health ;  darkness  disease.  Light  is  the  source  of 
life ;  darkness  is  the  synonym  of  death.  Let  your  New 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  PHYSIOLOGY  OF  INTRA-UTERINE  GROWTH. 

MMEDIATELY  the  egg  is  fe¬ 
cundated,  the  mucus  membrane 
of  the  uterus  takes  on  an  ac¬ 
tivity  of  growth.  It  increases 
in  thickness,  becomes  tumified 
and  vascular,  and  projects  in 
rounded  convolutions  into  the 
cavity  of  the  uterus.  “In  this 
process,  the  tubules  of  the  ute¬ 
rus  increase  in  length,  and  also 
become  wider,  so  that  their 
open  mouths  may  be  readily 
seen,  by  the  naked  eye,  upon 
the  uterine  surface,  as  numer¬ 
ous  minute  perforations.  The 
blood-vessels  of  the  mucus  membrane  also  enlarge  and  mul¬ 
tiply,  and  inosculate  freely  with  each  other,  so  that  the  vas¬ 
cular  network  encircling  the  tubules  becomes  more  extensive 
and  abundant. 

“The  thick,  rich,  soft,  vascular  and  velvety  lining,  the  re¬ 
sult  of  this  process,  was  formerly  supposed  to  be  an  entirely 
new  product,  but  lit  is  now  known  to  be  no  other  than  the 
mucus  membrane,  greatly  thickened,  but  still  retaining  all  its 
natural  connections  and  its  original  anatomical  structure.” 

At  the  fundus  of  the  uterus,  in  one  of  the  projecting  con¬ 
volutions,  the  fecundated  egg  is  lodged.  At  this  point  of 

4 

« 


173 


174 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


lodgment,  the  mucus  membrane  takes  on  a  still  more  rapid 
development,  projecting  its  folds,  and  so  growing  up  and 
around  the  egg  as  to  inclose  and  shut  it  off  from  the  rest  of 
the  uterus.  This  new  growth  of  the  mucus  membrane  is 
called  the  Decidua  Reflexa,  while  the  original  lining  mem¬ 
brane  of  the  uterus  is  called  the  Decidua  Vera. 

The  egg,  which  during  this  time  has  considerably  enlarged, 
throws  out  projecting  filaments  (Fig.  14),  which  insinuate 
themselves,  as  they  grow,  into  the  folds  of  the  decidual  sur- 


Fig.  12.  Impregnated 


Uterus, 

Showing  the  formation  of  De¬ 
cidua.  The  Decidua  is  rep¬ 
resented  in  black;  and  the 
egg  is  seen  at  the  fundus  of 
the  uterus,  engaged  between 
two  of  its  projecting  convo¬ 
lutions. 


Fig.  13.  Impregnated  Ute¬ 
rus, 

Showing  how  the  projecting  folds 
of  the  Decidua  have  grown  up 
around  and  completely  inclosed 
the  Egg. 


Fig.  14.  Appearance  of  Egg 
at  Fourteenth  Day. 


face  (Fig.  15)  in  contact  with  the  egg,  and  spreading  in  all 
directions  from  its  external  surface.  It  is  through  these  fila¬ 
ments  the  nutritious  fluids  are  imparted  for  its  nourishment. 

As  the  egg  increases  in  growth — a  greater  supply  of  nour¬ 
ishment  being  necessary — the  decidua  in  contact  with  that 
part  of  the  projecting  filaments  of  the  chorion  (Fig.  16)  con¬ 
tinues  to  grow,  while  over  the  remaining  portion  of  its  sur¬ 
face  they  disappear,  and  become  concentrated  and  developed 
at  the  situation  of  the  future  placenta,  which  it  helps  to 
form. 


INTRA- UTERINE  GROWTH. 


175 


The  germ-cell  or  egg,  consisting  of  a  vitellus  or  yelk,  and 
its  cover  of  vitelline  membrane,  is  fecundated  by  the  sperm¬ 
cell,  and  is  then  called  the  embryonic  cell. 

This  embryonic  cell  absorbs  into  itself  a  portion  of  the  nu¬ 
triment  prepared  within  the  ovary  for  its  use,  and  thus  com¬ 
mences  its  own  development. 

And  now,  to  quote  from  Prof.  Dalton — to  whom  I  am  in¬ 
debted,  in  great  measure,  for  the  illustrations  and  subject- 
matter  of  this  chapter — “  a  remarkable  change  takes  place  in 


Fig.  15.  Impregnated  Uterus,  Fig.  16.  Pregnant  Uterus, 

Showing  connection  between  villosities  of  Cho-  Showing  formation  of  Placenta,  by  the  united 
rion  and  decidual  membranes.  development  of  a  portion  of  the  Decidua  and 

the  villosities  of  the  Chorion. 

the  impregnated  egg,  which  is  known  as  the  spontaneous  di¬ 
vision,  or  segmentation,  of  the  vitellus.  A  furrow  first  shows 
itself,  running  around  the  globular  mass  of  the  vitellus  in  a 
vertical  direction,  which  gradually  deepens  until  it  has  di¬ 
vided  the  vitellus  into  two  separate  halves  or  hemispheres 
(Fig.  17,  a).  Almost  at  the  same  time,  another  furrow,  run¬ 
ning  at  right  angles  with  the  first,  penetrates  also  the  sub¬ 
stance  of  the  vitellus,  and  cuts  it  in  a  transverse  direction. 
The  vitellus  is  thus  divided  into  four  equal  portions  (Fig.  17, 
b ),  the  edges  and  angles  of  which  are  rounded  off,  and  which 
are  still  contained  in  the  cavity  of  the  vitelline  membrane. 
The  spaces  between  them  and  the  internal  surface  of  tide  vi¬ 
telline  membrane  are  occupied  by  a  transparent  fluid. 


) 


1 76 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


“  The  process  thus  commenced  goes  on  by  a  successive 
formation  of  furrows  and  sections  in  various 
directions.  The  four  vitelline  segments  al¬ 
ready  produced  are  thus  subdivided  into  six¬ 
teen,  the  sixteen  into  sixty-four,  and  so  on, 
until  the  whole  vitellus  is  converted  into  a 
mulberry-shaped  mass,  composed  of  minute, 
nearly  spherical  bodies,  which  are  called  the 
‘vitelline  spheres’  (Fig.  1  y,  e).  These  vitel¬ 
line  spheres  have  a  somewhat  firmer  consist¬ 
ency  than  the  original  substance  of  the  vi¬ 
tellus,  and  this  consistency  appears  to  in¬ 
crease  as  they  successively  multiply  in  num¬ 
bers  and  diminish  in  size.  At  last  they  have 
become  so  abundant  as  to  be  closely  crowded 
together,  compressed  into  polygonal  forms, 
and  flattened  against  the  internal  surface  of 
the  vitelline  membrane  (Fig.  17,  d).  They 
have  by  this  time  been  converted  into  true 
animal  cells;  and  these  cells,,  adhering  to 
each  other  by  their  adjacent  edges,  form  a 
continuous,  organized  membrane,  which  is 
termed  the  Blastodermic  Membrane. 

“  The  next  change  which  takes  place  con¬ 
sists  in  the  division  or  splitting  of  the  blasto¬ 
dermic  membrane  into  two  layers,  which  are 
known  as  the  external  and  internal  layers  of 
the  blastodermic  membrane.  They  are  both 
still  composed  exclusively  of  cells  ;  but  those 
of  the  external  layer  are  usually  smaller  and 
more  compact,  while  those  of  the  internal  are 
rather  larger  and  looser  in  texture.  The 
egg  then  presents  the  appearance  of  a  globular  sac,  the  walls 
of  which  consist  of  three  concentric  layers,  lying  in  contact 
with  and  inclosing  each  other,  namely — first,  the  structure¬ 
less  vitelline  membrane  on  the  outside  ;  second,  the  external 


Fig.  17.  Segmenta 
tion  of  Vitellus. 


INTRA- UTERINE  GROWTH \ 


1 77 


layer  of  the  blastodermic  membrane,  composed  of  cells  ;  and 
third,  the  internal  layer  of  blastodermic  membrane,  also  com¬ 
posed  of  cells.  The  cavity  of  the  egg  is  occupied  by  a  trans¬ 
parent  fluid,  as  before  mentioned. 

“  The  entire  process  of  the  segmentation  of  the  vitellus 
and  the  formation  of  the  blastodermic  membrane  is  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  and  important  of  all  the  changes  which 
take  place  during  the  development  of  the  egg.  It  is  by  this 
process  that  the  simple  globular  mass  of  the  vitellus,  com¬ 
posed  of  an  albuminous  matter  and  oil  granules,  is  converted 
into  an  organized  structure.  For  the  blastodermic  mem¬ 
brane,  though  consisting  only  of  cells  nearly  uniform  in  size 
and  shape,  is  nevertheless  a  truly  organized  membrane,  made 
up  of  fully  formed  anatomical  elements.  It  is,  moreover, 
the  first  sign  of  distinct  organization  which  makes  its  appear¬ 
ance  in  the  egg ;  and  as  soon  as  it  is  completed  the  body  of 
the  new  foetus  is  formed.  The  blastodermic  membrane  is, 
in  fact,  the  body  of  the  foetus.  It  is  at  this  time,  it  is  true, 
exceedingly  simple  in  texture  ;  but  we  shall  see  hereafter 
that  all  the  future  organs  of  the  body,  however  varied  and 
complicated  in  structure,  arise  out  of  it,  by  modification  and 
development  of  its  different  parts. 

“  The  two  layers  of  the  blastodermic  membrane,  above 
described,  represent  together  all  the  organs  of  the  foetus. 
They  are  intended,  however,  for  the  production  of  two  dif¬ 
ferent  systems ;  and  the  entire  process  of  their  development 
may  be  expressed  as  follows :  The  external  layer  of  the  blas¬ 
todermic  membrane  produces  the  spinal  column  and  all  the 
organs  of  animal  life ;  while  the  internal  layer  produces  the 
intestinal  canal  and  all  the  organs  of  vegetative  life. 

“The  first  sign  of  advancing  organization,  in  the  external 
layer  of  the  blastodermic  membrane,  shows  itself  in  a  thick¬ 
ening  and  condensation  of  its  structure.  This  thickened  por¬ 
tion  has  the  form  of  an  elongated,  oval-shaped  spot,  termed 
the  ‘embryonic  spot’  (Fig.  18),  the  wide  edges  of  which  are 
somewhat  more  opaque  than  the  rest  of  the  blastodermic 

12 


178 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


membrane.  Inclosed  within  these  opaque  edges  is  a  nar¬ 
rower,  colorless  and  transparent  space,  the  ‘  area  pellucida.’ 
and  in  its  centre  is  a  delicate  line  or  furrow,  running  longitu¬ 
dinally  from  front  to  rear  which  is  called  the  ‘  primitive  trace.’ 

“  On  each  side  of  the  primitive  trace,  in 
the  area  pellucida,  the  substance  of  the  blas¬ 
todermic  membrane  rises  up  in  such  a  man¬ 
ner  as  to  form  two  nearly  parallel  vertical 
plates  or  ridges,  which  approach  each  other 
over  the  dorsal  aspect  of  the  foetus,  and  are 
Fig.  18.  Impregnated  therefore  called  the  ‘dorsal  plates.’  They 
w. ,  ’  r  at  last  meet  on  the  median  line,  so  as  to  in- 

With  commencement  of 

formation  of  embryo;  close  the  furrow  above  described  and  con- 

showing  embryonic  spot,  &  canal  Xhjs  afterward  be_ 

area  pellucida,  and  prim¬ 
itive  trace.  comes  the  spinal  canal,  and  in  its  cavity  is 

formed  the  spinal  cord,  by  a  deposit  of  nervous  matter  upon 
its  internal  surface.  At  the  anterior  extremity  of  this  canal 
its  cavity  is  large  and  rounded,  to  accommodate  the  brain 
and  medulla  oblongata ;  at  its  posterior  extremity  it  is  nar¬ 
row  and  pointed,  and  contains  the  extremity  of  the  spinal 
cord. 

“The  process  of  development  may  be  briefly  recapitulated 
as  follows  : 

“  i.  The  blastodermic  membrane,  produced  by  the  seg¬ 
mentation  of  the  vitellus,  consists  of  two  cellular  layers — an 
external  and  an  internal  blastodermic  layer. 

“  2.  The  external  layer  of  the  blastodermic  membrane  in¬ 
closes  by  its  dorsal  plates  the  cerebro-spinal  canal,  and  by  its 
abdominal  plates  the  abdominal  or  visceral  cavity. 

“  3.  The  internal  layer  of  the  blastodermic  membrane 
forms  the  intestinal  canal,  which  becomes  lengthened  and 
convoluted,  and  communicates  with  the  exterior  by  a  mouth 
and  anus  of  secondary  formation. 

“  4.  Finally,  the  cerebro-spinal  axis  and  its  nerves,  the 
skeleton,  the  organs  of  special  sense,  the  integument  and  the 
muscles  are  developed  from  the  external  blastodermic  layer; 


INTRA- UTERINE  GROWTH. 


179 


while  the  anterior  and  posterior  extremities  are  formed  from 
the  same  layer  by  a  process  of  sprouting  or  continuous 
growth.” 

From  the  external  layer  of  the  blastodermic  membrane  is 
formed  the  amnion  or  inner  membrane,  which  secretes  upon 
its  inner  surface  the  liquid  in  which  is  suspended  the  foetus 
during  the  whole  period  of  gestation. 

From  the  inner  layer  of  the  blastodermic  membrane  is 
formed  the  allantois,  which  on  attaining  its  full  growth  en¬ 
tirely  surrounds  the  foetus,  is  united  with  the  vitelline  mem¬ 
brane  and  outer  lamina  of  the  amniotic  fold,  and  is  then 


Fig.  19.  Human  Ovum  at  the 
End  of  First  Month. 


Fig,  20.  Human  Ovum  at  End 
of  Third  Month. 


termed  the  chorion,  and  thus  becomes  the  sole  external 
membrane  of  the  egg. 

The  chorion  or  outer  covering  (Fig.  14)  throws  out  villi, 
which  after  a  time  gather  at  one  point,  uniting  with  the  de¬ 
cidua  or  inner  surface  of  the  uterus,  and  forms  the  placenta, 
by  which  the  foetus  is  nourished  from  the  blood  of  the 
mother. 

Fig.  19  shows  the  human  ovum  at  the  end  of  the  first- 
month.  In  the  middle  of  the  amniotic  fluid  is  seen  the  um¬ 
bilical  vesicle,  which  contains  the  fluid  for  the  first  nourish¬ 
ment  of  the  embryo.  It  after  a  time  is  absorbed,  and  after 
the  third  month  the  sac  gradually  disappears.  Next  is  seen 
the  amnion,  which  secretes  the  amniotic  fluid  in  which  the 


180  THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 

foetus  floats ;  and  lastly,  the  chorion,  which  was  formed  from 
the  internal  layer  of  the  blastodermic  membrane,  and  on 
which  is  seen  the  villi,  which  carry  nourishment  to  the  em¬ 
bryo.  As  the  foetus  grows,  the  tufts  of  the  chorion  greatly 
develop  at  one  point  (Fig.  19),  disappearing  elsewhere,  and 
the  quantity  of  the  amniotic  fluid  continues  to  increase,  to 
allow  the  free  movements  of  the  foetus.  At  the  same  time, 
the  umbilical  cord  elongates,  in  proportion  to  the  increased 
size  of  the  amniotic  cavity.  It  contains  the  vein  and  two 
arteries  through  which  the  foetus  receives  its  nourishment. 
A  gelatinous  matter,  covering  the  vessels  with  a  thick,  elas¬ 
tic  envelope,  protects  them  from  injury. 


Showing  the  relations  of  the  Cord,  Placenta,  Membranes,  etc.,  about  the  end  of  the  seventh  month. 

A,  Decidua  Vera;  B,  Decidua  Reflexa ;  C,  Chorion  ;  D,  Amnion. 

In  Fig.  21  is  shown  the  relation  of  the  cord,  placenta, 
membranes,  etc.,  about  the  end  of  the  seventh  month.  The 
decidua  vera  (a)  and  the  decidua  reflexa  (b)  about  this  time 
fuse  together  and  form  a  single  thin  layer.  The  chorion  (c), 


INTRA-UTERINE  GROWTH. 


1 8 1 


from  which  is  seen  the  vascular  tufts  which  go  to  make  the 
placenta.  At  this  period  the  amniotic  fluid  has  so  increased 
as  to  fill  the  cavity  of  the  uterus,  and  the  amnion  (d)  is 
seen  lying  close  up  to  the  chorion,  and  surrounding  and  form¬ 
ing  the  umbilical  cord. 

As  already  mentioned,  during  the  first  weeks  of  the  growth 
of  the  embryo  it  is  nourished,  as  the  young  chicken  is,  by 
the  yelk  of  the  egg.  But  soon  the  villi  of  the  chorion  gather 
into  a  compact  mass,  and  become  adherent  to  some  por¬ 
tion  of  the  uterus.  There  is  thus  formed  a  placenta,  made 
of  two  portions — the  maternal  side  (Fig.  22)  toward  the 


Fig.  22.  Fig.  23. 


walls  of  the  uterus,  and  the  foetal  (Fig.  23),  in  which  the 
vessels  unite  into  two  arteries  and  one  vein,  which  with  their 
envelopments  form  the  umbilical  cord  and  communicate  with 
the  foetal  heart.  The  vein  carries  red,  arterial,  nutritive 
blood  from  the  placenta  to  the  child,  to  be  distributed  to  all 
parts  of  its  system.  The  two  arteries  carry  the  dark,  ve¬ 
nous  blood  from  the  child  back  again  to  the  placenta,  there 
to  be  purified  and  rendered  nutritious. 

The  blood  itself  does  not  pass  from  the  system  of  the 
mother  to  the  child,  or  from  the  child  to  the  mother  ;  but, 
though  it  has  its  own  individual  circulation  and  life,  all  its 


182 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


nutriment,  from  the  time  this  connection  is  formed  until  it  is 
severed  at  birth,  comes  from  the  mother. 

The  placenta  is  circular  in  shape,  having  two  flattened 
surfaces  ;  it  is  from  one  to  two  inches  in  thickness  in  its  cen¬ 
tral  and  thickest  part,  and  six  or  eight  inches  in  diameter. 
Its  flattened  surface,  most  distant  from  the  child,  is  closely 
attached,  and  adheres  tightly  to  some  portion  of  the  inner 
surface  of  the  womb.  It  is  formed  for  merely  a  temporary 
use,  and  does  not  constitute,  in  any  proper  sense,  a  part  of 
either  the  mother  or  child. 

The  placenta,  the  umbilical  cord,  and  the  membranes  of 
the  ovum,  constitute  the  after-birth. 

The  growth  of  the  egg  after  fecundation  is  very  rapid.  On 
the  tenth  day  it  has  the  appearance  of  a  semi-transparent 
grayish  flake.  On  the  twentieth  day  it  is  nearly  the  size  of  a 
pea,  filled  with  fluid,  in  the  middle  of  which  is  an  opaque 
spot,  presenting  the  first  appearance  of  an  embryo,  which 
may  be  clearly  seen  as  an  oblong  or  curved  body,  according 
as  it  is  viewed,  and  plainly  visible  to  the  naked  eye  on  the 
fourteenth  day.  Its  weight,  at  this  time,  is  about  one  grain. 

On  the  twenty-first  day  the  embryo  resembles  an  ant,  or  a 
lettuce-seed  ;  its  length  is  from  four  to  five  lines,  and  its 
weight  three  or  four  grains.  Many  of  its  parts  now  commence  to 
show  themselves,  especially  the  cartilaginous  beginnings  of 
the  bones  of  the  spinal  column,  the  heart,  brain,  etc. 

On  the  thirtieth  day  the  embryo  is  as  large  as  a  horse-fly, 
and  resembles  a  worm  bent  together.  There  are  as  yet  no 
limbs,  and  the  head  is  larger  than  the  rest  of  the  body. 
When  stretched  out,  the  embryo  is  nearly  half  an  inch  long. 

Toward  the  fifth  week ,  the  head  increases  greatly  in  pro¬ 
portion  to  the  remainder  of  the  body,  and  the  rudimentary 
eyes  are  indicated  by  two  black  spots  turned  toward  the 
sides,  and  the  heart  exhibits  its  external  form,  being  a  toler¬ 
ably  close  resemblance  to  that  in  the  adult. 

In  the  seventh  week  bone  begins  to  form  in  the  lower  jaw 


INTRA-  UTERINE  GROWTH. 


183 


and  clavicle.  Narrow  streaks  on  each  side  of  the  vertebral 
column  show  the  beginning  of  the  ribs ;  the  heart  is  perfect¬ 
ing  its  form,  the  brain  enlarged,  and  the  eyes  and  ears  grow¬ 
ing  more  perfect,  and  the  limbs  sprouting  from  the  body. 
The  lungs  are  mere  sacs,  about  one  line  in  length,  and  the 
trachea  is  a  delicate  thread,  but  the  liver  is  very  large.  The 
arms  are  still  imperforate.  In  the  seventh  week  are  formed 
the  renal  capsules  and  kidneys,  and  the  sexual  organs  are 
speedily  evolved,  but  the  sex  of  the  foetus  is  not  determined 
until  some  time  after.  The  embryo  is  now  nine  lines  or 
three-fourths  of  an  inch  in  length. 

At  two  months  the  forearm  and  hand  can  be  distinguished, 
but  not  the  arm  ;  the  hand  is  larger  than  the  forearm,  but  it, 
is  not  supplied  with  fingers  ;  the  distinction  of  sex  is  yet 
difficult ;  the  eyes  are  prominent,  but  the  lids,  from  being 
still  rudimentary,  do  not  cover  the  eyeball ;  the  nose  forms 
an  obtuse  eminence ;  the  nostrils  are  rounded  and  separated; 
the  mouth  is  gaping,  and  the  epidermis  can  be  distinguished 
from  the  true  skin.  The  embryo  is  from  one  and  a  half  to 
two  inches  long,  and  weighs  from  three  to  five  drachms,  the 
head  forming  more  than  one-third  of  the  whole. 

At  from  sixty  to  seventy  days  the  development  is  rapid, 
and  all  the  parts  are  in  the  course  of  progressive  formation. 
The  eye  enlarges,  the  lids  are  visible,  the  nose  grows  promi¬ 
nent,  the  mouth  enlarges,  the  external  ear  is  formed,  the 
brain  is  soft  and  pulpy,  the  neck  well  defined,  and  the  heart 
fully  developed. 

At  the  end  of  the  three  months  the  eyelids  are  distinct, 
but  shut,  the  lips  are  drawn  together,  the  forehead  and  nose 
are  clearly  traceable,  and  the  organs  of  generation  are  prom¬ 
inent  in  both  sexes.  The  heart  beats  with  force,  the  larger 
vessels  carry  red  blood,  the  fingers  and  toes  are  well  defined, 
muscles  begin  to  be  developed,  and  the  foetus  is  four  or  five 
inches  in  length,  and  weighs  from  two  to  four  ounces. 

At  the  fourth  month  the  embryo  takes  the  name  of  foetus  ; 
its  growth  is  not  so  rapid  in  the  commencement  as  at  the  end 


1 84  THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 

of  this  month.  The  body  is  six  to  eight  inches  in  length, 
and  weighs  from  seven  to  eight  ounces.  The  face  still  re¬ 
mains  but  little  developed,  although  more  elongated  than  it 
has  previously  been.  The  eyes,  nostrils  and  mouth  are 
closed.  The  skin  has  a  rosy  color,  and  the  muscles  now 
produce  a  sensible  motion.  A  foetus  born  at  this  period 
might  live  for  several  hours. 

At  five  months  the  length  of  the  body  is  eight  to  ten 
inches,  and  it  weighs  from  eight  to  eleven  ounces. 

At  six  months  the  length  is  eleven  to  twelve  and  a  half 
inches,  and  the  weight  about  one  pound.  The  hair  appears 
upon  the  head,  the  eyes  closed,  the  eyelids  somewhat  thicker 
and  their  margins,  as  well  as  the  eyebrows,  are  studded  with 
very  delicate  hairs. 

At  seven  months  every  part  has  increased  in  volume  and 
perfection ;  the  bony  system  is  nearly  complete.  Length, 
twelve  to  fourteen  inches ;  weight,  two  and  a  half  to  three 
pounds.  If  born  at  this  period,  the  foetus  is  able  to  breathe, 
cry  and  nurse,  and  may  live  to  grow  up,  if  properly  cared 
for.  It  is  frequently  too  feeble  to  endure  being  either  washed 
or  dressed,  and  must  necessarily  sleep  nearly  the  whole  time, 
except  for  the  short  periods  required  for  the  taking  of  its 
food.  Its  power  of  generating  heat  within  itself  is  also  ex¬ 
tremely  feeble  ;  it  should,  therefore,  be  kept  wrapped  in  a 
warmed,  soft  flannel  blanket,  and  laid  close  beside  the  moth¬ 
er,  or  held  in  the  lap  of  some  other  person,  in  order  that 
their  warmth  or  animal  heat  may  be  constantly  imparted  to 
it. 

At  eight  months  the  foetus  seems  to  grow  rather  in  thick¬ 
ness  than  in  length  ;  it  is  only  sixteen  to  eighteen  inches 
long,  and  yet  weighs  from  four  to  five  pounds.  The  skin  is 
very  red,  and  covered  with  down  and  a  considerable  quantity 
of  sebaceous  matter.  The  lower  jaw,  which  was  at  first  very 
short,  is  now  as  long  as  the  upper  one. 

Finally,  at  term ,  the  foetus  is  from  nineteen  to  twenty- 
three  inches  long,  and  weighs  from  six  to  nine  pounds.  The 


* 


INTRA  -  UTERINE  GR  O  WTH.  1 8  5 

red  blood  circulates  in  the  capillaries,  and  the  skin  performs 
the  function  of  perspiration. 

There  is  nothing  more  interesting  in  the  growth  of  the 
foetus  than  is  the  development  of  the  face.  Says  Dalton : 

“  From  the  sides  of  the  cephalic  mass  five  buds  or  pro¬ 
cesses  shoot  out  and  grow  toward  each  other,  so  as  to  ap¬ 
proach  the  centre  of  the  oval  orifice  (Fig.  24.)  One  of  them 
grows  directly  downward  from  the  frontal  region,  and  is 
called  the  frontal  or  intermaxillary  process,  because  it  after¬ 
ward  contains  in  its  lower  extremity  the  intermaxillary  bones* 
in  which  the  incisor  teeth  of  the  upper  jaw  are  inserted. 

“The  next  process  originates  from  the  side  of 
the  opening,  and,  advancing  toward  the  me¬ 
dian  line,  forms,  with  its  fellow  of  the  opposite 
side,  the  superior  maxilla.  The  processes  of 
the  remaining  pair  also  grow  from  the  side,  and 
form,  by  their  subsequent  union  upon  the  me¬ 
dian  line,  the  inferior  maxilla.  The  inferior 
maxillary  bone  is  finally  consolidated,  in  man,  Fig-  24-  Head  of 

Human  Embryo, 

into  a  single  piece,  but  remains  permanently  di-  At  about  the  ^ 
vided,  in  the  lower  animals,  by  a  suture  upon  tieth  day-  After 

-  ..  Longet;  from  a 

the  median  line.  specimen  in  the 

“  As  the  frontal  process  grows  from  above  of  M‘ 

downward,  it  becomes  double  at  its  lower  ex¬ 
tremity,  and  at  the  same  time  two  offshoots  show  themselves 
upon  its  sides,  which  curl  round  and  inclose  two  circular  or¬ 
ifices,  the  opening  of  the  anterior  nares  ;  the  offshoots  them¬ 
selves  become  the  alae  nasi  (Fig.  25.)  The  mouth  at  this 
period  is  very  widely  open,  owing  to  the  imperfect  develop¬ 
ment  of  the  upper  and  lower  jaw,  and  the  incomplete  form¬ 
ation  of  the  lips  and  cheeks. 

“  The  processes  of  the  superior  maxilla  continue  their 
growth,  but  less  rapidly  than  those  of  the  inferior ;  so  that 
the  two  sides  of  the  lower  jaw  are  already  consolidated  with 


1 


4 


1 86 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


Fig.  25. 
Head  of  Hu¬ 
man  Em¬ 
bryo, 

At  about  end  of 
sixth  week.  Af¬ 
ter  Dalton. 


each  other,  while,  those  of  the  upper  jaw  are  still  sepa¬ 
rate. 

4 

“  As  the  processes  of  the  superior  maxilla  continue  to  en¬ 
large,  they  also  tend  to  unite  with  each  other  on  the  median 
line,  but  are  prevented  from  doing  so  by  the  intermaxillary 
processes  which  grow  down  between  them. 
They  then  unite  with  the  intermaxillary  pro¬ 
cesses,  which  have  at  the  same  time  united  with 
each  other,  and  the  upper  jaw  and  lip  are  thus 
completed  (Fig.  26.)  The  external  edge  of  the 
alae  nasi  (wing  of  the  nose)  also  adheres  to  the 
superior  maxillary  process  and  unites  with  it, 
leaving  only  a  curved  crease  or  furrow,  as  a 
sort  of  cicatrix,  to  mark  the  line  of  union  be¬ 
tween  them. 

“The  eyes,  at  an  early  period,  are  situated  upon  the  sides 
of  the  head,  so  that  they  cannot  be  seen  in 
a  front  view  (Fig.  24.)  As  development 
proceeds,  they  come  to  be  situated  further 
forward  (Fig.  25),  their  axis  being  divergent 
and  directed  obliquely  forward  aud  out¬ 
ward.  At  a  later  period  still  they  are  placed 
on  the  anterior  plane  of  the  face  (Fig.  26),  and 
have  their  axis  nearly  parallel  and  looking  Fig  a6 
directly  forward.  This  change  in  the  situa-  Head  of  Human  em- 
tion  of  the  eyes  is  effected  by  the  more  rapid  BK'°> 

J  J  A  About  the  end  of  the 

growth  of  the  posterior  and  lateral  parts  of  second  month.  After 
the  head,  which  enlarge  in  such  a  manner  as 
to  alter  the  relative  position  of  the  parts  seated  in  front  of 
them.” 


POSITION  OF  Fcetus. — The  foetus  lies  curved  within  the 
bag  formed  by  the  membranes ;  usually  the  head  is  some¬ 
what  flexed,  the  chin  resting  on  the  breast ;  the  feet  are  bent 
up  in  front  of  the  legs — the  latter  strongly  flexed  on  the 


INTRA-UTERINE  GROWTH. 


1 87 


thighs  ;  the  knees  are  separated  from  each  other,  but  the 
heels  lie  close  together  on  the  back  part  of  the  thighs  ;  the 
arms  are  placed  so  as  to  receive,  as  it  were,  the  chin  be¬ 
tween  the  hands.  The  foetus,  thus  folded  on  itself,  forms  an 
oval,  whose  longest  diameter  is  about  eleven  inches.  Why 
the  foetus  takes  this  position  in  utero  has  not  yet  been  clearly 
explained. 


CHAPTER  XVI 


PERIOD  OF  GESTATIVE  INFLUENCE. 

N  the  fecundated  ovum — the  size 
of  which  is  one  two-hundred- 
and-fortieth  of  an  inch  in  diam¬ 
eter,  and  a  thousand  of  which 
could  be  placed  on  the  thumb¬ 
nail  — is  contained  the  principle 
of  a  new  life — the  elements  of  a 
new  soul.  Embodied  in  its  un¬ 
developed  organization  is  the 
future  statesman  or  orator,  farm¬ 
er  or  mechanic.  Ingrained  in 
its  tissue  may  be  scrofula,  con¬ 
sumption,  insanity  or  deformity. 
This  minute  speck  represents 
an  individual  who  eventually 
will  be  temperate,  or  else  a 
drunkard  or  glutton ;  who  will  be  chaste  or  licentious ; 
whose  life  will  be  a  success  or  a  failure,  depending  alone  or 
altogether  on  what  the  parents  choose  tb  make  it. 

From  the  moment  the  egg  is  fecundated  there  is  life — for 
that  matter,  there  must  be  life  in  the  germ-cell  and  sperm¬ 
cell  before  impregnation,  else  there  could  be  no  conception  ; 
but  when  conception  does  occur,  the  life  of  a  new  being  is 
established,  and  this  new  being  has  within  it  the  elements  of 
a  new  soul,  as  well  as  body.  This  soul  grows  and  expands 
1 88 


PERIOD  OF  GESTATIVE  INFLUENCE.  189 


with  the  growth  of  the  body,  and  in  harmony  with  the  qual¬ 
ity  and  character  of  the  body. 

The  medium  of  connection  between  the  soul,  which  is  im¬ 
mortal,  and  the  body,  which  is  mortal,  is  the  nervous  sys¬ 
tem.  Through  the  wonderful  system  of  nerves,  the  soul 
takes  on  the  impress  of  the  body’s  habits  of  thought  and  ac¬ 
tion  ;  and  through  the  nervous  system  does  the  soul,  in  its 
intensity  of  action,  find  expression  through  the  body.  Du¬ 
ring  ante-natal  life,  the  soul,  in  harmony  with  the  body,  takes 
on  the  character  transmitted  to  it  by  the  parents,  and  this 
character;  in  a  great  measure,  clings  to  it  through  post-natal 
life,  and  after  death  into  eternity. 

This  birth  of  the  soul  in  common  with  the  creation  of  the 
body  is  a  fact  that  carries  with  it  great  significance,  and  one 
that,  more  than  aught  else,  should  determine  parents  to  be¬ 
get  a  new  being  under  loving  and  holy  conditions. 

There  being  no  nervous  connection  between  the  foetus  and 
mother,  it  is  through  the  blood  of  the'  mother  only  that  the 
body  of  the  child  is  nourished,  its  character  influenced,  and 
its  habits  of  life  formed. 

This  being  so,  the  first  great  requisite  in  the  mother,  du¬ 
ring  this  gestative  period  of  influence — next  to  right  habits 
of  thought  and  action — is  a  correct  diet.  Her  food,  during 
this  period,  makes  not  only  her  own  blood,  but  also  the 
blood  of  the  child  ;  and  this  blood,  vitalized  by  her  nervous 
system,  imparts  its  vitality  to  the  nervous  and  muscular  sys¬ 
tem  of  the  child,  and  in  this  way  is  the  character  of  the  new 
life  influenced.  A  man  or  woman’s  daily  thoughts  and  ac¬ 
tions  affect  and  impress  the  secretions  of  the  nutritive  sys¬ 
tem,  and  through  this  the  blood  ;  and  in  this  way,  through 
its  reaction  on  the  nervous  system,  the  character  of  the  man 
increases  for  better  or  worse,  as  may  be.  It  might  with 
truth  be  said,  that  a  drop  of  blood  represents  in  its  elements 
the  character  of  the  individual  who  manufactured  it. 

The  mother  of  a  gloomy,  morose,  sullen  or  fretful  disposi¬ 
tion  impresses  these  qualities  on  every  globule  of  blood  that 


190 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


comes  through  her  system,  and,  as  a  necessity,  on  the  rapid¬ 
growing  tissues  of  the  child,  which  after  its  birth  will  have 
embodied .  in  its  organization  all  these  undesirable  quali¬ 
ties. 

Undeniably,  the  best  food  for  mothers,  during  this  period 
of  pregnancy,  is  fruit  and  vegetables,  in  as  nearly  their  nat¬ 
ural  condition  as  possible.  When  apples,  grapes,  peaches, 
plums,  etc.,  are  eaten,  the  skins  of  such  fruit  should  inva¬ 
riably  be  eaten  along  with  the  substance.  One  great  trouble 
with  pregnant  women  is  costiveness,  and  this  can  in  a  great 
measure  be  avoided  by  the  adoption  of  this  rule.  Graham 
bread,  so  highly  recommended  as  the  true  staff  of  life,  is  to 
be  used  in  very  moderate  quantities  during  this  season,  for  it 
has  a  tendency  to  prematurely  harden  the  bones,  causing  in¬ 
creased  difficulty  in  parturition.  ‘Pure  blood  being  a  re¬ 
quirement  in  the  right  growth  of  the  child,  it  is  almost  un¬ 
necessary  to  say  that  a  clean,  sweet,  lovable  baby  cannot  be 
grown  by  a  mother  who  uses  fat  meats,  pork,  spices,  grease, 
tea,  coffee,  beer,  whisky,  wine,  etc.  ;  and  even  lean,  fresh  or 
healthy  beef  or  mutton,  the  least  hurtful  of  flesh  diets,  are 
not  fit  to  make  babies  of  the  right  stamp. 

It  is  a  popular  opinion  with  women,  during  this  period, 
that  they  require  double  or,  treble  their  usual  quantity  of 
food.  This  is  a  mistake,  and  is  the  cause  of  much  physical 
suffering.  A  healthy  woman  will  not  and  ought  not  to  re¬ 
quire  (in  the  early  months  of  pregnancy)  more  than  her 
usual  amount  of  food,  and  she  will  not  have  that  craving  af¬ 
ter  all  manner  of  food  that  many  women  have.  This  crav- 
ingforand  surfeiting  with  unusual  articles  of  dietproceeds  en¬ 
tirely  from  a  disorganized  nervous  system,  and  not  from  the 
foetus  in  utero,  and  is  easily  avoided  by  the  adoption  of  a 
right  life. 

A  woman,  during  this  period  of  gestative  influence,  if  she 
desires  to  carry  out  the  Law  of  Genius,  should  closely  follow 
the  Plan  of  Life  given  in  a  former  chapter,  excepting  the  fa¬ 
rinaceous  food,  which  should  be  used  in  moderate  quantities. 


PERIOD  OF  GESTATIVE  INFLUENCE.  19 1 


The  only  allowable  drink  to  be  used  during  this  period  is 
water,  and  if  spices  and  condiments  are  abstained  from  very 
little  of  that  will  be  required. 

It  should  be  understood  by  parents  that,  through  the 
wrong  use  and  abuse  of  food — over-eating,  fast  eating,  in¬ 
dulging  in  hot  food  and  hot  drinks,  eating  indigestible  food, 
as  new  bread,  pastry,  pickles,  sweetmeats,  oily  and  greasy 
meats,  mince  pie,  condiments,  etc. — it  is  as  easy  to  transmit 
dyspepsia,  with  its  attendant  horrors,  to  the  unborn  child,  as 
it  is  to  transmit  much  less  important  attributes.  Dyspepsia 
is  as  often  hereditary  as  is  consumption,  scrofula,  insanity, 
eti .  This  of  itself  is  an  argument  that  should  influence  the 
mother  in  a  right  choice  of  drink  and  diet. 

Next  in  importance  to  proper  food  is  pure  air  and  light. 
The  mother  should  at  all  seasons  have  an  abundance  of  pure 
air,  and  especially  so  during  her  sleeping  hours.  Open  fire- 
'  places  are  at  all  times  the  most  desirable  ;  but  where  tight-fit¬ 
ting  stoves  are  used,  ample  arrangements  should  be  made  for 
thorough  ventilation.  In  the  room  in  which  the  mother 
lives,  the  light  of  the  sun  should  never  be  obstructed  by 
blind  or  curtain.  Many  people,  thinking  much  more  of  their 
carpets  and  furniture  than  of  their  own  health,  keep  their 
houses,  by  the  aid  of  blinds,  curtains  or  trees,  in  a  state  of 
Egyptian  darkness.  No  more  fatal  error  ever  was  made. 
Under  the  influence  of  the  sun’s  heat,  air  and  moisture,  a 
new  seed  or  plant  will  germinate,  grow,  and  gradually  de¬ 
velop  into  health  and  beauty  of  leaf  and  flower ;  whereas,  if 
kept  in  darkness,  it  may  grow  to  a  certain  extent,  but  its 
leaves  and  stem  are  of  a  sickly  yellowish  hue,  and  is  in  its 
appearance  an  undesirable  thing.  This  is  applicable,  with 
much  greater  force,  to  the  human  organism.  A  child  of 
light  is  a  child  of  joy,  of  purity,  of  health  ;  while  a  child 
whose  mother  has  lived  in  a  dark,  unventilated  room  during 
this  period  will  be  a  child  of  many  troubles, — deformities, 
rickets,  bad  teeth,  crooked  spine,  pale  and  sickly-looking 
skin,  soft  and  flabby  muscles,  enfeebled  digestive  organs — al- 


192 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


together  a  most  undesirable  list  of  results.  Not  only  should 
pregnant  women,  but  all  mankind  should  live  in  the  light  of 
the  life-giving  sun,  and  only  court  darkness  during  the  hours 
of  sleep. 

The  daily  bath,  during  this  full  term  of  nine  months, 
should  never  be  neglected.  The  best  time  in  the  day  for 
bathing  is  in  the  forenoon,  between  eleven  and  twelve 
o’clock,  when  the  body  is  at  its  highest  state  of  health  and 
strength.  As  before  mentioned,  the  taking  of  it  should  oc¬ 
cupy  as  short  a  time  as  is  consistent  with  its  being  thor¬ 
oughly  done.  After  drying  and  friction  with  the  hands,  the 
mother  for  a  few  moments  should  allow  the  full  rays  of  the 
sun  to  fall  direct  on  her  nude  body,  and  during  this  time  she 
should  take  deep  inspirations  of  pure  air,  filling  her 
lungs  to  their  full  extent.  This  water,  sun  and  air-bath — 
after  dressing  in  part  or  in  whole — should  be  followed  by  a 
rest  of  fifteen  or  thirty  minutes  in  bed  or  on  a  lounge. 

It  is  almost  unnecessary  to  again  say  that  the  dress  of  the 
woman  during  this  period  must  be  perfectly  loose,  having  no 
constrictions  of  any  kind  or  nature,  and  that  the  extremities 
be  warmly  and  comfortably  clad. 

A  full  measure  of  sleep  should  always  be  secured.  A 
regular  hour  of  going  to  bed  and  rising  should  be  estab¬ 
lished  and  faithfully  adhered  to.  No  feathers  are  to  be  allowed 
near  the  bed,  and  the  room  to  be  large,  pleasant  and  well 
ventilated. 

This  brings  us  to  the  habits  of  thought  and  action  to  be 
observed  by  the  mother,  in  order  to  secure  in  her  offspring 
health  and  beauty  of  form  and  feature,  and  the  elements  of 
character  that  in  their  action  will  constitute  genius. 

The  period  of  gestative  influence  is  to  be  divided  into  two 
sections — the  first  four  months  and  the  last  five  months. 
During  the  first  four  months  the  physical  in  the  mother 
should  predominate,  while  during  the  last  five  months  the 
mental  should  predominate. 

The  positive  and  intense  exercise  of  the  mental  faculties, 


- 1 


PERIOD  OF  GESTATIVE  INFLUENCE.  193 

during  the  period  of  preliminary  preparation,  should,  imme¬ 
diately  following  conception,  be  arrested,  and  no  more  in¬ 
tense  exercise  of  the  mental  power  should  be  essayed  until 
the  arrival  of  the  fifth  month  of  pregnancy. 

During  this  first  four  months  of  gestative  influence,  the 
mother  should  daily  take  ample  physical  exercise,  and  the 
best  exercise  she  can  have  is  walking.  Alone,  or  with  her 
husband  or  other  companion,  she  should,  about  ten  o’clock 
in  the  forenoon,  go  on  a  walk  of  from  three  to  six  miles.  On 
returning,  a  bath  should  be  taken  as  above,  and  a  short  rest 
afterward.  It  is  important  that  during  this  walk  the  mother 
feel  no  sense  of  being  tired.  By  pleasant  talk,  if  with  a  com¬ 
panion,  or,  if  alone,  by  pleasant  thoughts  of  her  plans  and 
purposes  in  the  growth  and  life  of  the  new  being,  the  time  in 
walking  will  pass  unperceived — otherwise  there  may  be 
present  a  feeling  of  lassitude,  which  ultimately  may  do  her 
more  harm  than  good.  Having  a  free,  loose,  comfortable 
dress,  with  well-fitting,  heavy  shoes,  and  no  vail,  she  should 
give  full  swing  to  her  arms  and  legs,  when  every  muscle, 
nerve  and  artery  in  her  body  will  feel  the  electric  effects  of 
motion  and  rapid,  renewed  life.  This  walk  should,  rain  or 
shine,  be  taken  every  day  of  this  period  of  gestative  influ¬ 
ence,  up  to  within  a  few  days  of  parturition.  If  faithfully 
observed,  it  has  a  wonderful  happy  effect  on  the  whole  pro¬ 
cess  of  gestation  and  parturition. 

Otherwise,  during  this  four  months,  the  mother  should 
live  what  might  be  termed  a  negative  life — that  is,  without 
employing  in  any  great  measure  her  intellectual  faculties,  she 
should  carefully  avoid  all  the  bad  qualities  she  does  not  wish 
to  transmit  to  the  child.  If  she  have  a  fretful  or  irritable 
disposition,  she  should  carefully  guard  against  it,  and  endeav¬ 
or  to  cultivate  only  the  bright  and  cheerful  of  her  nature  ; 
and  so  of  any  other  greater  or  smaller  idiosyncrasy  of  char¬ 
acter  that  she  would  not  desire  to  have  incorporated  in  the 
life  of  the  child. 

To  impress  the  matter  more  fully  on  the  minds  of  parents, 

13 


194 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


I  will  again  repeat  that,  during  this  full  period  of  gestative 
influence,  as  well  as  during  the  period  of  nursing,  sexual  con¬ 
gress  should  not  be-  had  between  husband  and  wife.  This  is 
the  law  of  Nature,  the  law  of  God,  and  outside  of  Christen¬ 
dom  it  is  never  violated.  Animals  will  not  permit  it — sav¬ 
ages  will  not  permit  it,  and  over  three-quarters  of  the  world 
it  is  looked  upon  as  infamous  by  our  own  species.  A  man 
acting  out  the  licentious  of  his  nature  with  his  wife  during 
gestation  is  worse  than  a  brute — in  fact,  there  is  no  species 
of  the  animal  to  which  he  can  be  compared,  unless  it  be  the 
tobacco-flavored,  whisky-steeped  hanger-on  to  a  rum-shop 
— whose  life  is  an  epitome  of  tobacco,  whisky  and  licentious¬ 
ness.  Do  not,  I  pray  you,  O  parents,  do  this  unclean  thing. 
Do  not  taint  your  clean  bodies,  do  not  foul  your  pure  souls 
with  the  lustful  of  your  natures,  while  a  new  body  is  being 
developed,  a  new  soul  being  organized  ;  but  by  sweet  words, 
loving  caresses,  endearing  actions  and  warm  kisses,  cultivate 
within  you  the  love-element  that,  in  its  pure  exercise,  joins 
together  two  souls,  and  brings  in  its  path  such  a  measure  of 
peace  and  happiness  as  must  be  realized  ere  it  can  be  ap¬ 
preciated. 

When  the  fifth  month  has  arrived,  the  mother  should  car¬ 
ry  out,  by  persistent  mental  effort,  the  plan  of  life  decided 
on  for  the  child’s  post-natal  existence,  and  this  effort  should 
be  continued  up  to  the  day  of  its  birth.  To  this  end,  all  the 
thoughts  and  suggestions  given  in  Chapter  XIII.  should  be 
closely  observed  and  followed.  If  it  is  the  desire  of  the  pa¬ 
rents  that  the  child  be  a  carpenter,  a  minister,  a  fruit-grower, 
a  novelist,  an  inventor,  a  house-builder,  etc.,  this  later  period 
of  gestative  influence  is  the  period  in  which  to  impress  on 
the  child’s  organism  the  qualities  that  will,  when  he  or  she 
arrives  at  manhood  or  womanhood,  constitute  in  their  action 
the  desirable  quality  of  genius,  so  necessary  to  success  in  any 
line  of  life  chosen. 

During  this  period  the  father  should,  when  absence  from 
his  daily  avocation  is  permissible,  lovingly  think  and  act  in 


PERIOD  OF  GESTATIVE  INFLUENCE.  195 


harmony  with  his  wife.  They  together  should  by  repeated 
expression  strengthen  their  will-power  in  the  direction  de¬ 
sired.  They  should  help  each  other  to  avoid  all  that  is  un¬ 
congenial  in  their  nature,  and  cultivate  only  desirable  quali¬ 
ties  of  head  and  heart,  so  that  the  growth  of  the  new  being 
will  tend  toward  perfection,  rather  than  back  into  barbarism 
— for  it  should  be  noted  that  there  is  no  mid-way  in  life’s 
endeavors — mankind  must  either  recede  or  advance. 

In  their  efforts  to  conform  to  the  Law  of  Genius,  the  pa¬ 
rents,  and  particularly  the  mother,  must  carefully  avoid  anx¬ 
iety  of  mind  for  desired  results,  for  over-solicitude  will  in  the 
child  work  anomalies.  Over-anxiety,  vastly  increased,  will 
be  transmitted  to  the  New  Life,  and  be  to  it  a  source  of  life¬ 
long  trouble.  This  undesirable  quality  can  easily  be  avoided 
by  the  cultivation  of  a  bright,  cheerful,  reliant  disposition,  a 
belief  in  the  law  of  transmitted  influence,  and  trust  in  God’s 
care  and  presence.  The  parents  must  not  only  have  faith  in 
this  law,  but  in  its  practise  they  must  feel  confident  of  suc¬ 
cess,  for  people  who  have  no  faith  care  for  nothing,  and  as 
an  inevitable  consequence  accomplish  nothing. 

To  the  end  that  faith,  in  the  minds  of  doubting  parents, 
may  grow  and  increase  in  the  direction  of  the  wonderful 
power  of  pre-natal  influence,  I  will  here  give  some  illus¬ 
trations  of  the  results  of  chance  acts,  as  well  as  of  intelligent 
obedience  to  law,  in  the  propagation  of  offspring. 

Some  years  ago  a  man,  one  of  whose  hobbies  was  that 
unless  an  individual  was  a  musician  there  was  something  rad¬ 
ically  wrong  in  his  make-up,  married  a  woman  who  did  not 
know  the  first  elements  of  music.  This  woman,  his  wife, 
knowing  his  desire  for  musical  abilities  in  children,  and  his 
utter  carelessness  or  want  of  interest  in  children  who  did  not 
possess  such,  at  first  had  a  dread  that  she  would  bear  a  child 
wanting  in  his  desires.  But  she  made  up  her  mind  that 
such  sheuld  not  be  the  case,  and  to  this  end  she  obtained  a 
piano,  practiced  upon  it  for  a  certain  number  of  hours  daily, 
and  daily  cultivated  what  voice  she  had  in  singing.  Coupled 


196  THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 

with  this  was  the  strong  desire  of  her  whole  soul  to  have  a 
child  possessing  a  genius  for  music,  so  that  in  its  birth  and 
growth  it  would  be  a  well-spring  of  pleasure  to  the  father,  if 
not  to  her.  This  mother  has  now  two  children,  both  of 
which  are  born-musicians.  They  can  sing  any  tune  they 
once  hear,  and  can  already  play  the  most  difficult  music 
placed  before  them.  They  delight  and  revel  in  it.  This 
mother,  in  a  measure,  accidentally  observed  the  Law  of  Ge¬ 
nius,  as  the  results  so  plainly  prove.  She,  it  must  be  noted, 
never  did,  and  never  possibly  can,  excel  as  a  musician.  As 
already  mentioned,  this  is  not  necessary,  the  principal  re¬ 
quirement  being  the  whole-souled  desire ,  and  the  determinedy 
persistent  effort  in  the  direction  required.  This  mother  had 
no  other  wish  in  transmitting  musical  capacities 
to  her  offspring,  than  the  pleasing  of  her  husband.  In  no 
other  quality  were  the  children  improved,  in  mental  or  phys¬ 
ical  peculiarities,  than  the  single  one  of  music ;  for  otherwise 
they  have  inherited  characteristics  from  their  parents  which 
in  themselves  are  not  desirable.  Yet  she  done  much  in  hav¬ 
ing  children  with  such  a  love  and  genius  for  music,  for  music 
should  be  much  more  cultivated  than  it  is.  “  Every  heart 
should  be  the  home  of  music.  Every  home  should  be  an 
orchestra  for  sacred,  and  an  opera  for  sprightly,  gladsome 
music.  The  richest  sentiments  of  the  heart  are  to  be  sung. 
The  holiest  feelings  of  the  soul  find  their  best  utterance  in 
music.  The  warmest,  purest  affections  express  their  fervor 
in  song.  Music  is  the  natural  language  of  a  full  soul.  The 
mourner — yes,  even  the  mourner  loves  the  mellow,  grief¬ 
laden  cadences  of  slow  and  solemn  music.  The  patriot  ex¬ 
presses  his  bursting  joy  in  the  rich  notes  of  the  bugle  ;  the 
warrior  shouts  in  answer  to  the  stirring  fife  and  drum  ;  the 
worshiper  rises  in  praise  with  the  swelling  strains  of  the  or¬ 
chestra  ;  the  lover  melts  to  the  soft  tones  of  his  ravishing 
lute,  whose  very  melody  seems  the  sweet  breath  of  love.  It 
is  proper,  then,  that  all  should  be  masters  of  this  glorious 
science  One  day,  which  is  to  come,  all  must  be  taught,  and 


PERIOD  OF  GESTATIVE  INFLUENCE.  197 


will  willingly — yea,  gladly  join  in  the  anthem  of  redemp¬ 
tion.  All  souls  will  one  day  be  full  of  love  and  praise,  of 
heavenly  aspiration  and  glorious  sentiment.  At  once,  then, 
they  should  enter  upon  a  preparation  for  that  great  day  of 
the  fullness  of  glory ;  at  once  they  should  begin  to  taste  a 
prelibation  of  that  flood  of  angel-music  which  is  to  be  poured 
into  the  ear  of  creation’s  King.  While  the  infant  mind  is 
untarnished  with  sin  and  corroding  care,  this  heavenly  ele¬ 
ment  should  be  awakened  to  a  chorus  of  harmony  that  shall 
ever  swell  above  the  harsh  discord  of  life.  Early  should  the 
soul’s  great  powers  be  developed  for  the  work  of  the  immor¬ 
tal  world,  and  the  enjoyment  of  immortal  felicities.” 

As  another  illustration  of  inherited  musical  abilities — 
abilities,  I  presume,  that  were  transmitted  accidentally,  and 
not  knowingly  or  designedly — I  give  the  following,  taken 
from  a  Connecticut  paper: 

“  A  YOUNG  Prodigy. — There  is  a  little  child  living  in  the 
village  of  Baltic,  only  four  years  old,  who  plays  more  than 
forty  tunes  correctly  on  the  piano.  Her  name  is  Susa 

M - ,  daughter  of  George  M - ,  chorister  in  the  Baptist 

♦  church.  She  played,  a  few  Sabbaths  since,  all  the  tunes 
sung  in  the  Sabbath-school  concert,  to  the  delight  and  as¬ 
tonishment  of  a  large  concourse  of  people.  But  what  is 
more  wonderful,  perhaps,  in  the  case  of  the  little  musician, 
is  that  she  has  never  been  taught  to  read.  Her  knowledge 
of  music  seems  to  be  intuitive.” 

A  man  who  by  profession  was  an  engineer,  and  who  had 
just  started  business  on  his  own  account,  received  a  commis¬ 
sion  from  a  prominent  and  wealthy  firm  to  construct  a  large 
and  peculiar  steam  engine.  So  desirous  was  he  to  succeed, 
and  please  and  satisfy  his  employers,  that  he  worked  whole 
days  and  evenings,  in  concentrated  study,  to  perfect  the  de¬ 
sign.  In  doing  this,  his  wife,  who  was  along  in  pregnancy, 
got  interested,  and  together  they  thought,  talked  and  plan- 


198 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


ned.  When  the  time  arrived  a  daughter  was  born,  who,  in 
growing,  developed  in  an  unusual  degree  a  talent  to  invent 
and  construct — great  mathematical  and  mechanical  powers. 
The  parents,  no  doubt,  will  make  of  this  girl  an  ordinary 
every-day  woman,  having  no  special  aim  or  object  in  life.  I 
would  advise  that  she  follo\y  and  attain  those  qualifications 
necessary  to  her  success  as  a  designer  and  constructor  of 
engines,  the  genius  for  which  was  transmitted  to  her  during 
the  period  of  gestative  influence.  “  An  unwomanly  em¬ 
ployment,”  you  say.  Yes,  if  you  decide  by  old-established 
usages  ;  No,  if  you  decide  by  the  Law  of  Genius,  which  im¬ 
plies  fitness.  “  A  dirty  business,”  you  say.  Not  necessarily 
more  so  than  washing  dishes  or  peeling  potatoes.  “Would 
not  woman’s  dress  interfere  with  the  practical  details  of  con¬ 
structing  or  superintending  mechanical  work  ?”  Yes,  if  such 
women  dressed  as  at  present,  which  mode  is  as  unnatural  in 
its  form  and  purpose  as  it  is  destructive  to  the  wearer’s  life 
and  health.  A  perfectly  physiological  dress  for  woman  will  in 
no  way  prevent  her  from  adopting  any  of  the  departments 
of  work  occupied  by  man. 

Another,  and  perhaps  the  only  other  objection  that  can 
be  advanced,  is  that  it  would  place  woman  out  of  her  true 
sphere  of  life — that  of  mother,  companion  to  her  husband, 
and  educator  of  her  children.  This  objection  might  hold 
valid  if  there  were  no  inequality  in  the  number  of  the  sexes 
— if  there  were  no  more  women  than  men.  But  unfortu¬ 
nately  this  is  not  the  case.  In  Great  Britain,  many  parts  of 
Europe,  parts  of  the  United  States — not  mentioning  China 
and  other  Asiatic  countries — women  largely  predominate, 
and,  judging  by  past  records,  they  will  continue  to  do  so. 
Now  these  women  must  live,  unless  the  Chinese  plan  of  kill¬ 
ing  them  off  in  their  infancy  be  adopted.  Already  there  are 
thousands  of  women  on  this  comparatively  new  continent 
who  do  not  live — they  only  exist,  and  a  wretched  existence 
it  is  at  that.  This  being  so — and  it  cannot  well  be  denied — 
there  must  be  through  all  time  a  preponderance  of  unmar- 


PERIOD  OF  GESTATIVE  INFLUENCE.  199 


ried  women,  and  these  unmarried  women  should  possess  the 
privilege,  if  they  have  the  genius,  to  fill  any  sphere  in  life 
that  will  allow  them  not  only  to  be  independent,  but  that  will 
enable  them  to  cultivate  and  perfect  the  imperfect  that  is 
within  them.  Again,  there  are,  very  often,  women  who,  at  the 
death  of  their  husbands  are  thrown  upon  their  own  resources 

And,  allowing  that  a  woman  be  born  with  a  genius  for  an 
employment  that  is  pre-eminently  fitted  for  man,  it  does  not 
follow  that  she,  in  pursuing  that  employment,  need  part  with 
the  qualities  that  constitute  a  true  woman,  a  loving  and  faith¬ 
ful  wife,  and  a  pure  and  good  mother. 

Originate  a  woman  having  in  full  measure  the  quality  of 
genius,  and  place  her  in  any  department  of  life’s  workshop 
monopolized  by  man,  and  she  will  much  more  naturally  fall 
into  that  particular  station  than  will  a  man  possessed  of 
second-rate  talents.  And  notwithstanding  the  custom  that 
confines  her  to  particular  spheres — which  custom  was  born 
of  her  slavery — she  will  be  admired  for  her  genius  and  sought 
after  for  her  ability. 

And  yet  there  is  much  that  women,  or  the  mothers  of 
women,  can  perfect  themselves  in,  before  it  will  be  necessary 
for  them  to  largely  infringe  on  masculine  occupations.  Why 
is  it  that  there  is  so  much  want,  misery,  and  ultimately  lives 
of  shame  among  women — especially  women  in  large  cities  ? 
Simply  because  of  a  lack  of  ability,  capacity,  genius.  And 
this  lack  of  ability,  mind  you,  is  in  employments  that  are  or 
have  been  allotted  to  women.  The  most  successful  and  most 
fashionable  bonnet  and  dressmakers  at  this  time  in  Paris  are 
men.  A  woman  requires  the  training,  the  ability  and  the 
element  of  genius  as  much  in  cleaning  and  making  up  a 
shirt,  as  in  carving  from  marble  an  idealized  fancy  ;  as  much 
in  making  a  loaf  of  bread,  as  in  writing  a  novel ;  as  much  in 
cooking  a  dinner,  as  in  singing  an  operatic  air.  Yet  this  is 
lamentably  not  the  case,  and  until  women  are  educated, 
trained,  and  born  to  some  particular  employment,  so  that 
they  will  be  masters  of  its  every  detail,  so  long  will  they  be 


200 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


dependent  on  the  first  offer  of  marriage  that  comes  along,  be 
the  man  what  he  may ;  so  long  will  they  be  dependent  on 
friends  or  relatives  for  a  home ;  so  long  will  they  be  depend¬ 
ent  on  the  grasping  avarice  of  moneyed  monopolies  ;  and, 
failing  in  husband,  friends  and  low  wages — a  life  of  shame. 
Much  more  might  be  said  on  this  woman-question,  but  I 
will  refrain  ;  except  so  far  as  to  advise  mothers  who  are  rear- 
ing  girls,  that  they  from  the  beginning  bequeath  them  in  full 
measure  the  quality  of  genius  in  some  department  of  life’s 
efforts,  and  that  after  birth  they  continue  in  full,  measure  the 
plan  of  life  intended  for  the  unborn,  even  allowing  the  child 
should  prove  a  girl  when  a  boy  was  desired,  and  up  to  the 
full  age  of  womanhood,  all  >wing  no  present  thoughts  of  mar¬ 
riage  to  intervene,  the  education  be  continued  and  completed. 
In  this  way  can  you  have  a  woman  who  will  be  an  honor 
and  glory  to  her  parents,  and  a  bright  and  shining  star 
among  womankind. 

The  genius  of  Napoleon  I.  affords  another  instance  of  the 
effects  of  pre-natal  influence.  The  mother  of  Napoleon, 
some  months  previous  to  his  birth,  shared  the  fortunes  of 
war  with  her  husband.  On  horseback  most  of  the  time,  she 
acquired  active  and  health-inspiring  habits.  During  this 
time  she  was  in  constant  peril  and  danger,  and  not  only  sur¬ 
rounded  with,  but  intensely  engaged  in,  all  the  pomp  and 
circumstance  of  war,  and  in  this  way  not  only  became  famil¬ 
iar  with  the  horrors  and  anguish  of  war,  but  also  became 
reconciled  to  it,  and  in  a  measure  enjoyed  it.  This  being  so, 
it  could  not  possibly  be  otherwise  that  in  her  son  was  im¬ 
planted  that  indomitable  spirit,  that  unbounded  ambition  and 
passion  for  warlike  pursuits,  that  in  its  exercise  did  not  stop 
short  of  the  subjugation  of  a  world. 

In  the  mode  of  life  necessary  to  transmit  the  quality  of 
genius,  much  maybe  gleaned  from  a  perusal  of  the  pre-natal 
life  of  the  poet  Burns,  who  was  from  and  of  the  people,  and 
whose  efforts  are  and  ever  will  be  regarded  with  wonder  and 
delight  by  the  Saxon  race. 


PERIOD  OF  GESTATIVE  INFLUENCE.  201 


“  The  mother  of  Burns  was  a  native  of  the  county  of 
Ayr ;  her  birth  was  humble,  and  her  personal  attractions 
moderate  ;  yet,  in  all  other  respects,  she  was  a  remarkable 
woman.  She  was  blessed  with  singular  equanimity  of  tem¬ 
per  ;  her  religious  feelings  were  deep  and  constant  ;  she 
loved  a  well-regulated  household  ;  and  it  was  frequently  her 
pleasure  to  give  wings  to  the  weary  hours  of  a  checkered 
life  by  chanting  old  songs  and  ballads,  of  which  she  had  a 
large  store.  In  her  looks  she  resembled  her  eldest  son  ;  her 
eyes  were  bright  and  intelligent ;  her  perception  of  character 
quick  and  keen.  She  lived  to  a  great  age,  rejoiced  in  the 
fame  of  the  poet,  and  partook  of  the  fruits  of  his  genius.” 

And  of  the  father  it  is  said  that — 

“  Amid  all  these  toils  and  trials,  William  Burns  remem¬ 
bered  the  worth  of  religious  instruction,  and  the  usefulness 
of  education  in  the  rearing  of  his  children.  The  former 
task  he  took  upon  himself,  and,  in  a  little  manual  of  devotion 
still  extant,  sought  to  soften  the  rigor  of  the  Calvinistic  creed 
into  the  gentler  Armenian.  He  set,  too,  the  example  which 
he  taught.  He  abstained  from  all  profane  swearing  and  vain 
discourse,  and  shunned  all  approach  to  levity  of  conversation 
or  behavior.  A  week-day,  in  his  house,  wore  the  sobriety 
of  a  Sunday ;  nor  did  he  fail  in  performing  family  worship  in 
a  way  which  enabled  his  son  to  give  to  the  world  that  fine 
picture  of  devotion,  the  ‘Cotter’s  Saturday  Night.’ 

“  The  education  of  Burns  was  not  over  when  the  school 
doors  were  shut.  The  peasantry  of  Scotland  turn  their  cot¬ 
tages  into  schools  ;  and  when  a  father  takes  his  arm-chair  by 
the  evening  fire,  he  seldom  neglects  to  communicate  to  his 
children  whatever  knowledge  he  possesses  himself.  Nor  is 
this  knowledge  very  limited  ;  it  extends,  generally,  to  the 
history  of  Europe,  and  to  the  literature  of  the  island — but 
more  particularly  to  the  divinity,  the  poetry,  and  what  may 
be  called  the  traditionary  history  of  Scotland.  An  intelli¬ 
gent  peasant  is  intimate  with  all  those  skirmishes,  sieges, 
combats  and  quarrels,  domestic  or  national,  of  which  public 


202 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE . 


writers  take  no  account.  He  has  by  heart,  too,  whole  col¬ 
umns  of  songs  and  ballads ;  nay,  long  poems  sometimes 
abide  in  his  recollection  ;  nor  will  he  think  his  knowledge 
much,  unless  he  knows  a  little  about  the  lives  and  actions  of 
the  men  who  have  done  most  honor  to  Scotland.  In  addi¬ 
tion  to  what  he  has  on  his  memory,  we  may  mention  what 
he  has  on  the  shelf.  A  common  husbandman  is  frequently 
master  of  a  little  library  ;  history,  divinity  and  poetry — but 
mostly  the  latter  compose  his  collection.  Milton  and  Young 
are  favorites  ;  the  flowery  meditations  of  Hervy,  the  religious 
romance  of  the  ‘  Pilgrim’s  Progress,’  are  seldom  absent ; 
while,  of  Scottish  books,  Ramsay,  Thompson,  Ferguson,  and 
now  Burns,  together  with  song  and  ballad-books  innumer¬ 
able,  are  all  huddled  together,  soiled  with  smoke,  and  frail 
and  tattered  by  frequent  use.  The  household  of  William 
Burns  was  an  example  of  what  I  have  described ;  and  there 
is  some  truth  in  the  assertion  that,  in  true  knowledge,  the 
poet  was,  at  nineteen,  a  better  scholar  than  nine-tenths  of 
our  young  gentlemen  when  they  leave  school  for  college. 

The  great  number  of  literary  and  scientific  men  Scotland 
has  produced,  when  compared  with  her  sister  kingdoms,  is, 
to  many  reflecting  minds,  matter  of  surprise  and  wonder. 
The  preceding  account  of  the  general  literary  taste  and  ac¬ 
quirements  of  the  people,  together  with  the  following  opinion 
of  one  of  the  most  original  thinkers  of  the  age,  may  furnish 
an  explanation,  and,  at  the  same  time,  support  the  theory  of 
transmission  and  inheritance  contended  for  in  these  pages  : 

“  A  country  where  the  entire  population  is,  or  even  once 
has  been,  laid  hold  of,  filled  to  the  heart  with  an  infinite  re¬ 
ligious  idea,  has  made  a  step  from  which  it  cannot  retro¬ 
grade.  Thought,  conscience — the  sense  that  man  is  denizen 
of  a  universe,  creature  of  an  eternity — has  penetrated  the 
remotest  cottage,  to  the  simplest  heart.  Beautiful  and  awful, 
the  feeling  of  a  heavenly  behest,  of  duty  God-commanded, 
over-canopies  all  life.  There  is  an  inspiration  in  such  a  peo¬ 
ple  ;  one  may  say,  in  a  most  special  sense,  ‘  the  inspiration 


PERIOD  OF  GES DATIVE  INFLUENCE.  203 


of  the  Almighty  giveth  them  understanding.’  Honor  to  all 
the  brave  and  true  ;  everlasting  honor  to  the  brave  old  Knox, 
one  of  the  truest  of  the  true  !  That  in  the  moment  while 
he  and  his  cause,  amid  civil  broils,  in  convulsion  and  confu¬ 
sion,  were  still  but  struggling  for  life,  he  sent  the  schoolmas¬ 
ter  forth  to  all  corners,  and  said:  ‘Let  the  people  be  taught’ 
— this  is  but  one,  and,  indeed,  an  inevitable  and  compara¬ 
tively  inconsiderable  item  of  his  great  message  to  men.  His 
message,  in  its  true  compass,  was  :  ‘  Let  men  know  that  they 
are  men ,  created  by  God ,  responsible  to  God ;  who  work  in 
any  meanest  moment  of  time  what  will  last  through  eternity 
It  is,  verily,  a  great  message.  This  great  message  Knox  did 
deliver  with  a  man’s  voice  and  strength,  and  he  found  a  peo¬ 
ple  to  believe  him.  Of  such  an  achievement,  we  say,  were 
it  to  be  made  once  only,  the  results  are  immense.  Thought, 
in  such  a  country,  may  change  its  form,  but  it  cannot  go 
out ;  the  country  has  attained  majority ,  thought,  and  a  cer¬ 
tain  spiritual  manhood,  ready  for  all  work  that  man  can  do. 

It  may  take  many  forms — the  form  of  hard-fisted,  money¬ 
getting  industry,  as  in  the  vulgar  Scotchman,  the  vulgar 
New  Englander ;  but  as  compact,  developed  force,  and  alert¬ 
ness  of  faculty,  it  is  still  there.  It  may  utter  itself  as  the  co¬ 
lossal  skepticism  of  a  Hume  (beneficial,  this,  too,  though 
painful,  wrestling,  Titan-like,  through  doubt  and  inquiry,  to¬ 
ward  new  belief);  and  again,  in  some  better  day,  it  may  ut¬ 
ter  itself  in  the  inspired  melody  of  a  Burns  ;  in  a  word,  it  is,  / 
and  continues  in  the  voice  and  the  work  of  a  nation  of  hardy, 
endeavoring,  considering  men,  with  whatever  that  may  bear 
in  it,  or  unfold  from  it.  The  Scotch  natural  character  origi¬ 
nates  in  many  circumstances ;  first  of  all  is  the  Saxon  stuff 
there  was  to  work  on  ;  but  next,  and  beyond  all  except  that, 
the  Presbyterian  Gospel  of  John  Knox.” 

Mrs.  Hester  Pendleton  says  : 

“Two  of  my  early  friends,  of  very  dissimilar  characters, 
married  about  the  same  time,  and  their  children  have  par¬ 
taken  strongly  of  the  peculiarities  of  their  mothers — one  of 


204 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE . 


whom  was  of  a  dull,  sluggish  nature,  and  as  much  averse  to 
mental  as  to  physical  activity.  Her  conscience  appeared 
quite  at  ease  if  her  fingers  were  employed,  even  in  the  most 
trifling  occupation  ;  and  the  less  mental  effort  her  wrork  re¬ 
quired,  the  more  pleasing  it  was  to  her.  While  thus  em¬ 
ployed,  she  frequently  beguiled  the  time  by  caroling  senti¬ 
mental  songs  and  ballads.  The  phrenological  developments 
of  her  eldest  daughter  correspond  perfectly  with  the  habits 
and  pursuits  of  the  mother  during  her  pregnancy  :  tune, 
large — domestic  sentiments  and  animal  propensities,  large — 
reflective  organs,  moderate — perceptive  ones,  small — quite 
deficient  in  the  organ  of  weight,  and  very  near-sighted.  That 
the  last  two  defects  were  caused  by  the  personal  inactivity  of 
the  mother,  and  by  her  sight  being  constantly  confined  to 
small  and  near  objects,  appears  the  most  probable,  as  her 
last  children’s  organs  of  weight  and  vision  were  perfect — she 
having  removed  to  the  country,  and  been  obliged  to  perform 
the  active  duties  of  her  family. 

“  The  other  youthful  mother  was  blessed  with  a  most  hap¬ 
py,  joyous  temper,  and  possessed  of  mental  and  personal  ac¬ 
tivity  in  a  high  degree — passionately  fond  of  dancing,  walk¬ 
ing,  riding  on  horseback,  and  all  other  exercise  requiring  ac¬ 
tion,  skill  and  grace.  She  was  a  perfect  economist  of  her 
time,  allowing  no  portions  of  it  to  be  wasted.  Her  house¬ 
hold  was  regulated  with  order,  neatness  and  taste.  By  her 
habit  of  early  rising,  she  was  enabled  to  arrange  all  her  do¬ 
mestic  matters  before  breakfast ;  after  which,  she  usually  oc¬ 
cupied  herself  with  plain  needlework,  while  her  husband  read 
aloud  the  morning  papers.  She  would  then  accompany  him 
in  a  walk  of  three  miles  to  his  office  ;  and  on  her  return,  de¬ 
vote  the  remainder  of  the  morning  to  pursuits  congenial  to  a 
highly  cultivated  literary  taste ;  and  thus,  on  her  husband’s 
return  to  dinner,  she  had  something  new,  interesting,  and 
amusing  to  read  or  relate  to  him.  A  portion  of  the  after¬ 
noon  was  generally  devoted  to  exercise  in  the  open  air ;  or, 
the  weather  not  permitting,  to  a  game  of  battle-door,  or  the 


PERIOD  OF  GESTATIVE  INFLUENCE.  205 


/ 


graces  at  home  ;  or  to  chess,  reading  or  needlework.  Born 
under  such  pleasant  influences,  the  children  were  sprightly, 
active  and  graceful — perfect  emanations  of  joy — their  per¬ 
ceptions  quick,  their  sensibilities  acute,  their  understanding 
vigorous — no  lesson  a  task,  no  duty  a  burden.  Their  father 
was  a  man  of  sense  and  feeling,  who  perfectly  understood  the 
influence  of  the  mother’s  mind,  during  the  period  of  gesta¬ 
tion,  on  the  temper  and  disposition  of  her  child  ;  therefore, 
never  allowed  her  feelings  to  be  disturbed,  irritated  or  an¬ 
noyed.  Hence,  the  sweetness,  docility  and  tractability  of 
their  children  ;  and  hence  their  dissimilarity  to  those  first 
mentioned,  whose  parents  allowed  no  such  influence,  nor 
gave  themselves  any  trouble  or  thought  about  the  matter — 
and  their  children  were  perfect  clods  of  dullness,  ill  temper 
and  stupidity.” 

The  same  writer  gives  another  remarkable  instance  of  the 
effects  of  the  habits  and  pursuits  of  the  mother  on  her  off¬ 
spring  : 

“  Mrs.  A -  was  a  melancholy  instance  of  strength  of 

mind  perverted  to  selfish  ends.  Ambitious  of  power  and  in¬ 
fluence,  she  was  unscrupulous  in  the  means  by  which  they 
were  obtained.  Owing  to  her  plausibility  and  pertinacity, 
she  once  was  elected  to  an  office  of  trust  in  a  benevolent  so¬ 
ciety  of  which  she  was  a  member.  This  was  a  situation  of 
great  temptation  to  one  in  whose  head  the  selfish  sentiments 
predominated,  as  the  event  proved  ;  for,  at  the  expiration  of 
the  year,  she  was  dismissed,  under  the  imputation  of  having 
appropriated  a  portion  of  the  funds  of  the  society  to  her  own 

use.  During  the  year  in  which  she  held  this  office,  Mrs.  A - 

gave  birth  to  a  daughter,  whose  first  manifestations  were  ac¬ 
quisitiveness  and  secretiveness  in  excess,  or  a  propensity  to 
theft.  That  the  great  development  and  activity  of  those  or¬ 
gans  in  the  head  of  the  child  were  the  effect  of  the  dishonest 
practices  of  the  mother,  previous  to  her  birth,  there  can  be 
but  little  doubt.” 

These  illustrations  of  the  tendency  of  perverted  influence 


2  o6 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


on  the  New  Life  might  be  continued  interminably ;  but  this 
is  unnecessary — for  any  reader  need  but  knowingly  observe 
the  offspring  of  families  in  his  immediate  neighborhood  to 
be  convinced  of  these  indisputable  facts — to  be  convinced  of 
the  truth  that  the  great  law  of  pre-natal  influence  is  based  on 
the  principle  that  like  produces  like.  As  are  the  parents’ 
lives  during  the  period  of  preliminary  preparation — as  is  the 
life  of  the  mother  during  the  period  of  gestation  and  nur¬ 
sing,  so  will  be  the  child,  a  duplicate  in  physical,  mental  and 
moral  peculiarities.  It  is  only  necessary,  in  the  proving  of 
the  fact  that  like  produces  like,  that  parents  but  compare 
their  lives,  in  thoughts,  words  and  actions,  during  these  sea¬ 
sons  of  preparation,  to  account  for  the  character  of  mind  and 
body  of  any  of  their  offspring. 

Now  the  right  observance  of  the  laws  and  rules  laid  down 
in  these  pages  will — cannot  help — resulting  in  beautiful,  tal¬ 
ented,  healthy  offspring ;  and  yet,  if  any  parents  doubt  these 
truths  or  assertions,  let  them  follow  their  old  ways. 

Let  them — if  they  have  no  desire  for  pure,  bright,  and 
more  perfect  offspring — adopt  the  opposite  plan,  and  see  for 
themselves  the  result. 

Let  them — the  husband  and  wife — during  this  period  of 
gestative  influence,  disagree  as  much  as  possible — fall  out  and 
quarrel  about  the  most  trifling  subjects,  and  the  results  will 
be,  in  a  measure,  as  was  the  case  with  a  boy  in  Vermont, 
whose  parents  previous  to  his  birth  had  a  difficulty, 
resulting  in  the  mother  for  a  time  refusing  to  speak  to  her 
husband.  After  awhile  the  child  was  born,  and  in  due  season 
began  to  talk,  but  when  sitting  on  his  father’s  knee  was  inva¬ 
riably  silent.  It  continued  so  until  the  child  was  five  years 
old,  when  the  father,  having  exhausted  his  powers  of  persua¬ 
sion,  threatened  it  with  punishment  for  its  stubborness. 
When  the  punishment  was  inflicted,  it  elicited  nothing  but 
sighs  and  groans,  which  told  but  too  plainly  that  the  little 
sufferer  could  not  speak,  though  he  invariably  endeavored  to 
do  so.  This  child  has  reached  manhood,  and  even  now  his 


PERIOD  OF  GESTATIVE  INFLUENCE.  207 


efforts  to  converse  with  his  father  can  only  produce  the  most 
bitter  sighs  and  groans. 

Let  the  parents,  during  this  period,  lead  untruthful  lives. 
Let  the  mother  lie  whenever  the  least  opportunity  offers.  It 
is  not  necessary  that  she  tell  positive  lies,  for  the  effect  will 
be  the  same  if  they  are  of  a  negative  character — whether 
they  be  “white  lies”  or  society-lies — yea,  even  unexpressed 
untruths,  are  as  efficient  as  would  be  a  lie  under  oath.  Do¬ 
ing  this,  can  you  have  a  child  that  will  be  the  embodiment 
of  truth  and  honor  ?  Oh,  no ;  you  will  have  a  child  similar 
to  a  very  large  class  of  mankind,  who  by  thought,  word  or 
action  live  untruthful  lives  ;  who  are,  every  day  of  their  ex¬ 
istence,  in  a  very  small  or  very  great  measure — to  use  a 
plain  Saxon  word — liars  ;  and  of  whom,  because  of  their 
great  number,  no  individual  illustration  need  be  given. 

Apropos  to  this  subject  is  the  following  anecdote,  which  I 
have  noticed  drifting  through  the  papers  : 

“  A  Canadian  boy — too  young  to  fully  comprehend  the 
doctrine  of  total  depravity  (?),  but  old  enough,  at  least  to 
have  a  vague  idea  of  the  hereditary  principles  of  mankind — 
was  recently  detected  by  his  paternal  ancestor  in  a  falsehood, 
and  punished  therefor  by  solitary  confinement.  The  pun¬ 
ishment  over,  the  youngester  accosted  his  father  with  the 
question  : 

“  ‘  Pa,  did  you  tell  lies  when  you  were  little  ?’ 

“  The  father,  perhaps  conscience-smitten,  evaded  an  an¬ 
swer  ;  but  the  child,  persisting,  again  asked  : 

“  ‘  Did  you  tell  lies  when  you  were  little  ?’ 

“  ‘No,’  said  the  father;  ‘but  why  do  you  ask  ?’ 

“  ‘  Did  ma  tell  lies  when  she  was  little  ?’  he  then  asked. 

“  ‘  I  don’t  know,  my  son  ;  you  must  ask  her.’ 

“‘Well,’  retorted  the  boy,  ‘one  of  you  must  have  told 
lies,  or  you  would  not  have  a  boy  who  would.’  ” 

If  to  an  untruthful  life  be  added  a  disrespect  for  God’s 
name — a  breaking  of  the  third  commandment — a  combina¬ 
tion  will  be  transmitted  to  the  child’s  organism  that  will 


208 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


greatly  tend  toward  making  it  an  essentially  bad  character. 
Let  the  parents  during  this  period — if  they  desire  pale, 
weak,  scrofulous,  consumptive,  short-lived  children — care¬ 
fully  live  a  confined  life,  in  a  close,  dark,  stove-heated,  un¬ 
ventilated  house  ;  avoiding  all  out-door  exercise  and  amuse¬ 
ment  ;  eating  all  manner  of  rich,  greasy  and  concentrated 
food,  spices,  hot  and  sweet  drinks,  carefully  abstaining  from 
daily  baths,  and  they  will  have,  with  a  tenfold  increase,  their 
desire  fulfilled,  as  did  the  following  parents,  who  certainly 
did  not  desire  offspring  with  such  peculiarities  : 

“  I  was  married  at  the  age  of  twenty-five,  inheriting  from 
both  my  parents  a  most  vigorous  constitution.  My  husband 
was  four  years  my  senior,  and  alike  blessed  with  most  per¬ 
fect  health.  But  we  started  wrong  after  all,  for  we  both  de¬ 
termined  to  be  rich,  let  what  would  come.  We  occupied  a 
large  farm,  and  I,  in  my  eagerness  to  amass  wealth,  which 
has  been  a  canker  to  my  happiness,  would  never  employ 
help  for  a  day,  frequently  doing  all  the  labor  for  a  family  of 
twenty  during  the  period  of  gestation.  My  first  children 
were  twins.  My  living  at  the  time  was  what  is  commonly 
called  the  plain  living  of  farmers,  but  what  I  now  consider 
as  much  too  luxurious  for  health. 

‘‘Previous  to  my  accouchment,  a  cutaneous  eruption  ap¬ 
peared  on  my  face,  neck  and  hands,  together  with  swelling 
of  the  joints.  This  I  looked  upon  as  the  effect  of  heat, 
which  would  soon  pass  off;  but  what  was  my  disappoint¬ 
ment,  at  the  birth  of  my  babes,  to-  have  presented  to  me  two 
emaciated  little  beings,  covered  with  this  eruption,  which  was 
found  to  be  scrofula,  induced  by  wrong  living.  I  had  most 
ardently  desired  children,  and  my  love  of  riches  gave  way  to 
my  maternal  feelings ;  but  in  less  than  four  months  both  the 
little  sufferers  were  carried  to  their  resting  place.  I  regarded 
myself  as  stricken  of  God  ;  I  sought  to  submit  to  my  trying 
fate  as  a  Christian — for  I  did  not  regard  myself  as  having 
anything  to  do  with  my  affliction.  A  third,  fourth  and  fifth 
child  followed,  diseased  in  the  same  way,  and  only  lingered 


PERI  on  OF  GESTATIVE  INFLUENCE.  209 


for  a  short  period.  At  length  my  desires  were  gratified  in 
everything  except  living  children.  I  wept  and  prayed  much 
for  a  child  that  might  bless  our  old  age. 

“At  length  the  illness  of  a  beloved  parent  called  me  to  a 
different  scene,  and  during  almost  the  entire  period  of  preg¬ 
nancy  with  my  sixth  child  I  was  occupied  in  her  care.  Be¬ 
ing  no  longer  actively  engaged,  my  mind  turned  naturally 
to  investigating  the  causes  that  had  co-operated  to  produce 
such  painful  results,  if  causes  there  were.  Does  God,  I 
asked,  arbitrarily  punish  us  in  this  world  for  infringements 
of  His  moral  law  ?  If  so,  of  what  use  is  the  atonement  or 
death  of  Christ  ?  Then  first  dawned  upon  my  mind  the  be¬ 
lief  that  there  were  natural  as  well  as  moral  laws  given  to 
govern  us,  and  that  an  infringement  of  them  would  meet  with 
punishment.  The  period  of  parturition  arrived.  Conceive, 
if  you  can,  the  joy  and  gratitude  of  my  heart  to  find  myself 
the  mother  of  a  fair  and  beautiful  boy,  which  still  lives  to 
bless  and  comfort  me  ;  but  although  he  lives,  and  the  three 
daughters  which  followed  him,  yet  they  too  partake  of  the 
feeble  constitution  which  I  have  entailed  upon  them,  for  my 
own  health  had  become  greatly  impaired  by  my  wrong  mode 
of  life  and  struggle  after  riches.” 

Or,  if  any  parents  have  an  antipathy  to  following  the  laws 
given  for  the  production  of  beautiful  children,  they  can — by 
the  avoidance  of  the  beautiful  in  art  and  nature,  and  the  cul¬ 
tivation  of  the  homely,  rustic  and  coarse  embodied  in  their 
immediate  surroundings ;  the  exercise  of  the  propensities  of 
their  natures  ;  the  living  on  rich  food,  and  in  unlighted  and 
unventilated  rooms  ;  but  especially  by  the  wearing  of  corsets 
by  the  mother,  and  general  constriction  of  dress — secure  not 
only  homeliness  of  feature  in  the  offspring,  but  deformity  of 
soul  as  well  as  body.  In  no  way  does  the  fashionable  or  un¬ 
fashionable  mother  so  influence  the  appearance  of  the  child, 
during  and  immediately  preceding  gestation,  as  by  constric 
tion  of  the  body  by  corsets,  tight  dresses  or  bands.  By  this 
unnatural  habit  the  circulation  of  the  blood  through  the  ab- 


210 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


domen  is  impeded,  the  regular  nourishment  of  the  foetus  is 
also  checked,  and  so  the  child  is  born  with  not  only  high 
shoulders,  awkward  figure,  pinched  up  and  painful  express¬ 
ion  of  countenance,  but  also  with  a  weak  and  sickly  organi¬ 
zation.  The  Romans  were  so  well  aware  of  the  mischief 
caused  by  compression  of  the  waist  during  gestation,  that 
they  enacted  a  positive  law  against  it ;  and  Lycurgus,  with 
the  same  view,  is  said  to  have  ordained  a  law  compelling 
pregnant  women  to  wear  very  wide  and  loose  clothing. 

Or  if  the  parents  wish  a  child  that  will  possess  a  desire  for 
using  tobacco,  or  a  fondness  for  alcoholic  liquors,  it  is  only 
necessary  that  the  father — during  the  period  of  preliminary 
preparation — use  moderately  or  in  excess  tobacco,  wine, 
whisky,  beer,  etc.  If  the  mother  have  her  morning  or  eve¬ 
ning  glass  of  beer,  ale,  wine,  cider,  or  whisky — spiced,  hot 
or  plain — the  effect  on  the  character  of  the  New  Life  will  be 
much  more  positive.  The  children  born  of  parents  under 
these  conditions  will,  long  before  they  have  grown  to  man¬ 
hood  (or  womanhood),  take  as  naturally  to  alcoholic  liquors 
and  tobacco  as  does  the  father.  This  is  an  undeniable  fact, 
and  people  have  only  to  glance  around  them  to  be  con¬ 
vinced  of  it.  A  boy,  man  or  woman,  born  of  parents  who 
are  healthy  and  perfectly  free  from  these  curses  of  modern 
civilization,  will  not  only  not  adopt  these  debasing  practices, 
but  cannot  be  made  to  do  so.  Born  of  a  clean,  pure,  holy 
conception,  he  will  remain  while  he  lives  clean,  pure,  and 
free  from  the  body-corrupting,  soul-destroying  practices  of 
smoking,  chewing  or  snuffing  tobacco,  or  the  use  of  alcoholic 
liquors. 

Or  if  the  parents  desire  a  child  that  will  be  the  embodi¬ 
ment  of  licentiousness,  it  is  only  necessary  that  during  these 
periods  of  preparation  and  influence — beside  eating  of  rich 
food  and  using  hot  drinks,  alcoholic  liquors  and  tobacco — 
they  practice  the  abnormally  amative  of  their  natures — that 
they  together  lead  incontinent  lives — that  they  put  to  shame 
the  beasts  of  the  field  in  their  unnatural  lust.  By  doing  this 


PERIOD  OF  GESTA  FIVE  INFLUENCE.  2 1 1 


they  will  not  fail  to  have  children  whose  unnatural  desires 
will  crop  out  very  long  before  they  have  reached  manhood 
or  womanhood — long  before  their  bodies  are  so  grown  and 
perfected  as  to  be  prepared  to  take  on  the  holy  duties  and 
responsibilities  of  a  loving  and  pure  married  existence. 
Think  you  I  harp  too  much  on  this  theme  of  the  abnormal 
exercise  of  amativeness,  and  especially  at  these  seasons  of 
the  birth  and  growth  of  a  new  life?  You  cannot  so  think, 
if  you  are  of  an  observing  and  reflecting  nature.  Ask  any 
discreet,  watchful  and  observing  male  or  female  teacher  of 
any  one  of  the  primary  schools  in  town  or  country,  and  you 
will  be  told  that  the  practice  of  self-abuse  is  next  to  univer¬ 
sal  in  children  ;  that  it  is  practiced  by  girls  as  well  as  boys ; 
that  children  before  they  reach  the  age  of  five  years  practice 
it — practice  it  in  company  and  alone  ;  that  these  children,  as 
they  grow  up,  become  pale,  weak  and  sickly — caused,  as  the 
fond  parents  suppose,  by  hard  study ;  that  eventually  many 
of  these  young  men  become  insane,  while  others  die  of  some 
unpronounced  disease  —  consumption  or  general  debility — 
when  the  cause  .of  death  was  the  body-disintegrating,  soul- 
destroying  habit  of  self-abuse.  And  the  great  underlying 
cause  for  the  practice  of  self-abuse  in  the  child  was  the  fact 
that  it  was  transmitted  by  the  parents,  during  some  one  or 
other  of  these  seasons  of  pre-natal  influence. 

This  transmitted  sexual  desire  may  not  take  on  the  form 
of  self-abuse,  for  the.  child  may  grow  up  to  manhood  without 
doing  this  great  wrong  to  his  body — though  this  seldom  or 
never  happens ;  but  when  it  does,  as  well  as  when  it  does 
not,  his  inherited  licentiousness  is  exercised  in  a  compara¬ 
tively  legitimate  way — legitimate,  if  the  using  of  his  wife  as 
a  chattel  or  the  sexual  acquaintance  of  harlots  be  a  legiti¬ 
mate  way.  And  yet  the  results  are  almost  the  same  :  a 
sickly,  diseased,  unnatural  life,  and  an  early  death. 

“  J.  P.  finished  early  his  college  course,  and  with  a  rapid¬ 
ity  surpassing  even  the  most  sanguine  hopes  of  his  friends 
acquired  the  profession  of  law.  The  evening  that  he  was 


212 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


admitted  to  the  bar  saw  him  the  husband  of  a  lovely  and 
pure-hearted  woman.  He  rose  in  his  profession  with  a  ra¬ 
pidity  unequalled ;  but  his  wife  drooped  in  spirits  and  health ; 
her  happiness  had  been  evanescent  as  the  dew,  for  she  had 
too  late  learned  that  her  husband,  like  his  father,  was  a  prof¬ 
ligate,  licentious  man.  A  few  months  previous  to  the  birth 
of  their  son,  he  had  abandoned  the  young  and  tender  wife. 
That  son,  at  the  age  of  nineteen,  when  I  first  knew  him,  was 
the  most  brilliant  young  man  in  mind,  the  most  noble  in 
form  and  feature,  of  any  person  I  had  ever  known  ;  but  he 
was  pursuing  a  reckless,  licentious  course,  and  was  self-in¬ 
dulgent  in  all  his  appetites  to  a  degree  unparalleled.  The 
child  was  trained,  with  the  exception  of  proper  physical 
training,  with  great  care.  Often,  after  receiving  a  letter  from 
his  mother,  in  which  she  gave  excellent  advice,  and  much  re¬ 
ligious  counsel  and  exhortation,  have  I  known  him  to  shut 
himself  up  for  days,  and  fast  and  pray,  and  weep  like  an  in¬ 
fant  over  his  transgressions.  I  have  heard  him  make  the 
most  solemn  promises  before  God  of  entire  reformation. 
Again  and  again  I  have  seen  this  strong  man  bowed  to  the 
very  earth  under  a  sense  of  his  transgressions.  But  when  he 
went  forth  it  was  to  eat  and  drink,  and  again  to  go  out  and 
commit  the  same  sins,  perhaps  to  a  more  fearful  extent. 

“  Now  did  not  that  father  stamp  his  character  upon  his 
child  most  perfectly.  The  mother  was  a  noble,  highly  gifted 
woman ;  but  the  baser  passions  of  the  father  were  stronger 
than  the  moral  ones  of  both.  But  had  one-half  of  the  study 
of  the  mother  been  directed  to  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  the 
laws  of  Nature,  she  might  have  saved  him  much  suffering; 
she  might  have  given  to  his  constitution  a  shield  that  would 
have  protected  him  from  temptation  to  which  he  was  ex¬ 
posed.  For  she  would  have  taught  him  that,  by  living  on  a 
mild,  unstimulating  diet,  together  with  bathing,  air  and  ex¬ 
ercise,  those  baser  passions  might  be  controlled  and  brought 
into  due  subjection  to  his  higher  nature.  But  ignorantly  she 
fed  the  volcanic  fires  in  him,  which  in  after  life  she  vainly 


PERIOD  OF  GES  TA  TIVE  I  NFL  UENCE .  2 1 3 


sought  to  quench.  She  loved,  when  her  fair  boy  came  home 
from  school,  to  have  something  prepared  to  please  and  pam¬ 
per  his  vitiated  appetite.  Thus  she,  like  thousands  of  oth¬ 
ers,  took  the  most  sure  means  to  prevent  an  answer  to  her 
daily — nay,  almost  hourly  prayer,  that  God  would  keep  pure 
her  son.  Would  that  parents — when  they  surround  their 
luxurious  boards,  furnished  with  tea,  coffee,  flesh-meats,  con¬ 
diments,  etc.,  and  lift  up  their  voices  and  ask  of  God  to  bless 
the  food  to  the  strengthening  of  their  bodies,  and  then  rise 
with  those  bodies  stimulated  and  unnaturally  excited,  and 
their  spirits  groveling  and  fleshly — could  but  see  their  in¬ 
consistency.  To  a  mind  truly  enlightened  such  scenes  are 
most  revolting.  They  savor  strongly  of  Pagan  idolatry.  It  is, 
at  least,  mocking  God  with  lip-service,  while  the  heart  is  so 
debased,  low  and  sensual,  that  the  higher  natures  are  dor¬ 
mant,  and  their  religion  sensualism.” 

The  following  single  paragraph,  from  a  late  daily  paper, 
gives,  in  strong  relief,  three  instances  of  the  effects  of  the 
parents’  licentiousness  during  the  ante-natal  life  of  the 
child  : 

“  Within  a  short  time  the  Police  have  become  acquainted 
with  the  facts  connected  with  the  abandonment  by  three 
young  girls  of  their  homes,  and  their  deliberate  entry  upon 
lives  of  prostitution.  In  one  instance,  the  father  came  to 
this  city,  and  finding  his  daughter  in  a  house  of  ill-fame,  pre¬ 
vailed  upon  her  to  accompany  him  home.  She  remained 
there,  however,  but  a  short  time,  when  she  again  deserted 
her  family,  and  is  now  leading  a  life  of  infamy.  A  second 
case  was  that  of  a  young  girl,  who  came  to  this  city  and  was 
admitted  into  a  house  of  improper  character,  but  only  after 
she  had  brought  from  her  mother  a  written  document,  sta¬ 
ting  that  she  had  abandoned  her,  and  had  no  objection  to 
her  leading  a  life  of  shame.  The  paper  was  probably  a  for¬ 
gery.  Last  night,  in  a  cell  in  one  of  the  Station-houses  of 
the  city,  a  very  beautiful  girl,  only  17  years  of  age,  was  con¬ 
fined  for  having  deserted  her  mother,  and  voluntarily  entered 


214 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE . 


upon  a  career  of  crime  and  dissipation.  The  mother  had 
been  in  search  of  her  for  some  weeks,  and  yesterday  suc¬ 
ceeded  in  finding  her  in  a  fashionable  place  of  resort  on  Sixth 
street.  The  young  girl  stated  that  the  woman  at  whose 
house  she  was  discovered  and  the  habitues  of  the  place  had 
all  urged  her  to  go  home  and  lead  a  pure  and  virtuous  life, 
and  had  pointed  out  to  her  the  inevitable  and  certain  end  of 
the  career  upon  which  she  was  embarking,  but  that  she  had 
thought  the  matter  all  over,  and  had  fully  determined  to  con¬ 
tinue  on  her  course.” 

Where  there  are  three  such  cases  as  the  above  come  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  public,  there  are  thousands  that  do  not. 
And  substitute  three  young  men  in  place  of  the  above  three 
young  women,  and  you  can  substitute  millions  for  thousands, 
so  great  in  number  are  they  who  live  other  than  pure  lives. 
Live  a  licentious  married  life,  and  you  cannot  possibly  ex¬ 
pect  to  have  children  that  will  be  other  than  licentious  and 
incontinent.  Live  a  pure,  chaste  and  continent  married  life, 
and  your  children  will  be — as  God  intended  they  should — » 
embodied  reflections  of  His  love,  purity  and  goodness. 

Or,  if  the  parents  desire  a  child  that  will  not  only  be  de¬ 
ficient  in  mental  or  moral  qualities,  but  will  be  idiotic,  it  is 
only  necessary  that,  immediately  preceding  the  period  of 
conception,  the  parents  judiciously  combine  some  of  the 
principalbadconditionsenumerated  above — that,  beside  living 
on  wrong  food — living  in  dark,  unventilated  rooms,  they  use 
in  excess  alcoholic  liquors,  and  the  abnormally  amative  of 
their  natures,  and  they  will  not  fail  in  producing  children 
that  will  be  blots  on  this  beautiful  earth.  The  fact  is  estab¬ 
lished,  that  the  parents  who  use  alcoholic  liquors,  tobacco  or 
opium,  either  moderately  or  in  excess,  and  otherwise  mis¬ 
use  the  laws  of  life,  have  generated  children  who  were  par¬ 
tially  or  fully  idiotic. 

Or,  if  the  parents  desire  to  generate  a  child  that  will  pos¬ 
sess  the  qualities  that  will  go  to  make  it  a  murderer,  it  is  only 
necessary  to  add  to  some  one  or  more  of  the  above  enume- 


PERIOD  OF  GES  TA  TIVE  I  NFL  UENCE.  2 1 5 


rated  abnormal  characteristics  the  one — on  the  part  of  the 
mother — to  desire  to  get  rid  of  the  unborn  child,  the  attempt 
to  do  so,  and  its  failure.  Somewhere  I  have  read  of  a  child, 
whose  mother  so  desired  to  get  rid  of  it,  to  murder  it,  in  the 
early  months  of  pregnancy,  but  without  success.  From  the 
time  the  boy  was  five  years  old,  he  was  not  allowed  to  play 
or  associate  with  other  children  unless  carefully  watched,  as 
already  he  had  made  several  attempts  to  kill  his  fellow-play¬ 
mates.  Of  course,  the  hate,  loathing,  and  desire  for  the 
death  of  the  unborn,  must  be  deep  and  positive  to  produce 
such  an  effect  as  this.  The  pain,  grief  and  sorrow  of  that 
mother  might  be  imagined,  but  not  described.  She  longed 
for  and  prayed  that  her  boy,  in  some  way,  might  die  an 
early  death,  so  that  no  harm  should  befall  others  through  the 
murderous  propensities  bequeathed  him. 

Happening  into  a  court  house,  where  a  crowded  and  anx¬ 
ious  audience  filled  every  seat  and  aisle,  I  ascertained  that 
the  prisoner  at  the  bar  was  arraigned  for  murder.  Presently 
the  jury  appeared,  the  foreman  of  which,  in  a  clear  voice, 
returned  a  verdict  of  murder  in  the  first  degree.  The  judge 
asked  the  prisoner  if  he  had  aught  to  say  why  sentence  of 
death  should  not  be  passed  on  him. 

The  prisoner,  a  man  in  the  prime  of  life,  well  formed,  and 
of  rather  prepossessing  appearance,  lifted  his  eyes  toward  the 
judge,  and,  in  a  voice  husky  with  emotion,  said  : 

“I  am  guilty,  and  have  no  hopes  of  other  than  suffering 
death — for  has  not  my  life  been  one  great  record  of  sin  ? 
Only  in  the  prime  of  life,  I  have  been  arrested  times  without 
number.  I  have  led  a  licentious,  wicked  life.  I  have  done 
all  manner  of  positive  wrong — lied,  robbed  counterfeited,  and 
now  murdered.  And  yet  I  should  not  suffer  death,  for  I 
have  not  done  one  of  these  things  willingly.  The  wicked¬ 
ness  that  was  transmitted,  bequeathed,  and  that  is  in  me,  I 
have  striven  against,  fought  against,  yea,  even  prayed 
against.  Where  is  my  father,  who  bequeathed  me  this  de¬ 
formed  soul  ?  Where  is  my  mother  who  nurtured  and  more 


21 6 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


firmly  implanted  in  me  this  wicked  nature  ?  For  it  is  they 
who  embodied  these  qualities  in  my  organization  that  have 
culminated  in  murder,  and  it  is  they  to  whom  this  sentence 
of  death  should  be  addressed,  and  not  to  me.  Oh  !  not  to  me 
for  have  I  not  wrestled  and  fought  against  it  all  the  days  of 
my  life  ?  But  do  what  I  would,  strive  as  hard  as  I  might,  it 
would  assert  the  individuality  of  its  transmitted  nature.  In 
saying  this,  I  have  said  all  that  I  have  to  say  in  extenuation 
of  my  guilt.” 

This  argument — an  argument  that  can  be  used  and  ap¬ 
plied  by  nearly  every  wrong-doer  brought  before  the  dis¬ 
pensers  of  law  and  justice — of  course  availed  nothing  with 
the  judge.  A  jury  of  his  countrymen  had  found  him  guilty, 
and  he  must  suffer  the  extreme  penalty  of  the  law — death. 

And  yet,  was  he  guilty  ? 

On  you,  O  parents,  in  the  generating  of  a  new  life,  rests  a 
great  responsibility — a  responsibility  that,  if  assumed  in  a 
right,  loving  and  holy  endeavor,  will  produce  fruit  that  will 
redound  to  your  honor,  the  world’s  happiness,  and  God’s 
glory.  Assume  it  in  a  wrong,  unloving  and  unholy  spirit, 
and  O  the  trouble,  the  anxiety,  the  pain,  the  penalties  that 
will  result  will  be  more  than  a  single  soul  can  bear. 

See  to  it,  therefore,  that  you  faithfully  read,  diligently 
study,  and  ever  obey  the  laws  that  govern  your  sexual  or¬ 
ganism,  in  the  production  of  souls  in  the  image  of  God. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


PREGNANCY — ITS  SIGNS  AND  DURATION. 


HEN  a  new  life  is  started  on  its 
growth  toward  perfection,  the 
whole  nature  of  the  woman 
takes  on,  or  seems  to  take  on, 
new  life  and  vigor.  She  en¬ 
joys  better  health,  and  feels 
more  cheerful  and  buoyant  in 
spirits,  and  often  becomes  more 
fleshy  than  is  usual  with  her. 
This  fact  is  especially  notice¬ 
able  in  those  women  who  pos¬ 
sess  a  delicate  constitution  and 
somewhat  feeble  health.  Oth¬ 
ers,  again,  go  through  the  va¬ 
rious  stages  of  pregnancy  with¬ 
out  experiencing  any  marked  change  in  the  general  state  of 
their  systems  ;  while  others,  still,  suffer  more  or  less  severely 
from  a  variety  of  harassing  and  painful  symptoms.  But  all, 
or  nearly  all,  upon  becoming  pregnant,  or  very  soon  after, 
experience  changes  from  their  previous  condition  more  or 
less  diversified,  numerous  and  important. 

A  woman  in  perfectly  good  health,  having  her  stomach 
and  other  digestive  organs  properly  performing  their  appro¬ 
priate  functions,  and  hitherto  having  been  constantly  regular 
in  menstruating,  will  have,  as  a  first  intimation  that  preg¬ 
nancy  has  taken  place,  failure  in  the  recurrence  of  the  menses 


218 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


at  the  expected  period.  This  is  a  good  and  positive  sign  in 
a  woman  who  hitherto  has  been  strong,  healthy  and  regular. 
In  weak  and  sickly  women  the  cessation  of  the  menses  may 
be  owing  to  other  causes.  It  is  asserted  by  some  physiolo¬ 
gists  that  this  is  not  a  reliable  sign,  as  a  woman  may  be 
pregnant  and  menstruate  at  the  same  time.  This  I  believe 
to  be  wrong ;  for,  when  such  an  exception  occurs,  it  has  its 
source  in  ulcers  or  abrasions  of  the  mouth  and  lips  of  the 
womb,  and  not  from  the  interior  of  the  womb,  where  the  im¬ 
pregnated  egg  is  located,  and  from  whence  the  true  men¬ 
strual  flux  has  its  origin. 

Nausea ,  or  “  morning  sickness  ”  occurs  about  the  third  or 
fourth  week,  although  it  may  be  present  almost  immediately 
after  conception.  Nausea,  depending  as  much,  and  perhaps 
more,  on  the  morbid  condition  of  the  patient  than  on  preg¬ 
nancy,  is  not  an  ever-present  sign  ;  but  when  it  occurs  and 
is  unaccompanied  by  any  other  derangement  of  the  health, 
it  may  be  regarded  as  a  sign  of  no  inferior  importance. 

Salivation  of  a  very  peculiar  character  affects  some  women 
during  pregnancy.  The  saliva  is  extremely  white,  a  little 
frothy,  very  tenacious,  and  difficult  to  deliver  from  the  mouth. 
As  a  sign  of  pregnancy,  it  is  to  be  regarded  as  an  exception 
rather  than  the  rule. 

Mammary  changes. — From  the  fourth  to  the  twelfth  week 
after  pregnancy  the  breasts  will  be  found  to  have  increased 
in  size,  and  to  have  formed  round  the  base  a  circle  of  darker 
color  than  formerly,  with  here  and  there  scattered  upon  the 
surface  a  number  of  prominent  points  or  pimples.  As  time 
advances,  the  circle  will  be  found  to  increase  in  its  dimen¬ 
sions,  to  become  of  a  still  darker  color,  and  the  little  promi¬ 
nences  to  have  increased  in  size.  In  some  these  changes 
begin  to  appear  within  two  or  three  weeks  after  conception  ; 
in  others  they  appear  at  a  much  later  period  ;  and  in  many 
none  of  them  are  ever  manifested  ;  so  that — although  their 
appearance,  and  particularly  the  appearance  of  these  little 
prominences,  is  considered  as  almost  a  positive  indication  of 


PREGNANCY. 


219 


pregnancy — their  absence  is  very  far  indeed  from  being  any 
important  evidence  to  the  contrary. 

Secretion  of  milk. — At  the  time  when  the  breasts  begin 
to  enlarge,  milk,  or  rather  a  milky  fluid  is  secreted  ;  but  the 
secretion  of  this  fluid  takes  place  under  many  conditions 
where  pregnancy  does  not  exist.  Any  derangement  of  the 
health,  causing  the  interruption  of  the  menses,  may  result  in 
the  enlargement  of  the  breasts,  and  even  the  secretion  of 
milk. 

Enlarged  womb. — From  six  to  ten  weeks  after  conception, 
women  who  are  thin  and  not  fleshy  can,  by  pressing  the 
fingers  upon  the  lower  part  of  the  abdomen  just  above  the 
frontal  bone,  feel  the  enlarged  womb,  in  the  shape  of  a  hard, 
round  substance  or  ball,  about  the  size  of  an  orange.  This 
can  only  be  done  when  the  abdominal  muscles  are  relaxed, 
by  lying  down  on  the  back,  with  the  shoulders  slightly 
raised  and  the  knees  drawn  up. 

Enlargement  of  the  abdomen  takes  place  about  the  third 
month.  During  the  second  month  it  is  usually  much  flat¬ 
tened.  From  the  third  until  the  eighth  month  it  continues  to 
enlarge — at  first  along  the  median  line,  or  directly  in  front, 
and  at  quite  its  lower  part.  Until  the  fourth  month  the 
sides,  between  the  ribs  and  hips,  appear  to  diminish,  instead 
of  enlarging — the  growth  being  from  below  upward,  directly 
in  front,  while  the  sides  are  for  a  long  time  considerably  flat¬ 
tened.  Enlargement  of  the  abdomen  may  be  caused  by 
dropsy,  ovarian  disease,  or  tumors,  but  differs  materially  in 
its  growth  from  the  enlargement  caused  by  pregnancy. 

Quickening,  which  occurs  about  the  fourth  month,  when 
the  motions  of  the  child  are  first  observed  by  the  mother,  is 
commonly  regarded  as  an  unequivocal  sign.  These  motions, 
which  may  occur  as  early  as  the  third  month,  are  at  first 
very  feeble,  and  are  described  as  producing  a  feeble,  flutter¬ 
ing  sensation,  causing  the  woman  to  experience  an  uncom¬ 
fortable  feeling  of  nausea  and  faintness.  After  a  time  the 
motions  are  more  quick  and  elastic,  and  are  usually  felt  very 


220 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


frequently  during  the  remainder  of  the  time,  until  confine¬ 
ment  puts  a  termination  to  them. 

Pregnancy  may  exist  with  none  of  the  above  signs,  or 
with  all  of  them  ;  but  in  a  woman  who  is  healthy,  and  who 
has  led  a  regular  life,  the  appearance  of  any  or  all  of  them  is 
almdst  proof  positive  that  pregnancy  does  exist.  In  cases 
where  character  is  at  stake,  and  doubts  prevail,  there  are  less 
equivocal  sources  of  evidence,  by  which  any  well-informed 
physician  can  solve  such  doubts. 

Duration  of  pregnancy. — Owing  to  the  fact  that  concep¬ 
tion  is,  as  a  rule,  a  chance  act,  having  in  it  no  educated  de¬ 
sire,  preparation  or  method,  and  therefore  an  impossibility  to 
fix  the  exact  period  of  conception,  there  is  much  discrepancy 
of  opinion  with  regard  to  the  duration  of  it.  Nine  calendar 
months,  or  two  hundred  and  eighty  days,  is  the  generally 
accepted  length  of  this  period.  If  women  who  lead  conti¬ 
nent  lives,  and  who  adopt  the  laws  of  generating  a  new  be¬ 
ing  laid  down  in  these  pages,  would  make  a  note  of  the  pe¬ 
riod  of  conception,  they  could  not  only  tell  to  a  day  the  du¬ 
ration  of  pregnancy  in  their  cases,  but  would  know  of  a  cer¬ 
tainty  the  next  time  they  were  pregnant  (under  like  condi¬ 
tions),  the  very  hour  they  would  be  confined,  which  of  itself 
would  be  a  wonderful  satisfaction  to  the  mother.  Of  course, 
this  only  can  be  done  by  women  who  are  allowed  by  their 
husbands  to  live  pure  and  healthy  lives,  and  who  generate 
offspring  under  true  and  lovable  conditions. 

It  sometimes  occurs  that  the  period  of  pregnancy  extends 
to  more  than  two  hundred  and  eighty  days. 

“Some  years  ago  there  was  held,  in  England,  a  legal  trial 
of  a  case'  involving  the  question  of  the  duration  of  preg¬ 
nancy.  It  was  called  the  Gardiner  Peerage  case,  and  was  in¬ 
stituted  for  the  purpose  of  settling  the  title  of  a  claimant  of 
that  peerage.  Many  eminent  medical  men  were  examined 
on  the  occasion,  and  the  result  was  that  no  absolute  term  of 
pregnancy  was  ascertained.  Moved  by  the  interest  excited 
in  that  case,  Dr.  Merriman,  of  London,  took  the  greatest 


PREGNANCY. 


221 


pains  to  ascertain  the  duration  of  pregnancy  in  a  great  num¬ 
ber  of  women,  and  succeeded  in  satisfying  his  mind  of  the 
great  correctness  of  the  computation  for  one  hundred  and 
fourteen  cases  of  mature  children.  He  gave  a  tabular  state¬ 
ment,  designating  the  number  of  days’  duration  of  each 
case,  from  which  it  appears  that  there  were — 


3  born  durin 

§ 

the  thirty-seventh  week. 

1 3 

U 

thirty- eighth  week. 

14 

4  4 

thirty- ninth  week. 

33 

4  4 

fortieth  week. 

22  “ 

i  i 

forty-first  week. 

15 

4  i 

forty-second  week. 

IO  “ 

4  4 

forty-third  week. 

4 

4  4 

forty-fourth  week. 

“  From  this,  as  well  as  from  a  great  amount  of  other  testi¬ 
mony  to  the  same  effect,  it  appears  certain  that  the  term  or 
duration  of  pregnancy  is  far  from  being  absolutely  fixed  ; 
that,  while  in  some  cases  the  foetus  may  become  mature  in 
less  than  two  hundred  and  sixty  days,  in  others  it  does  not 
become  so  until  the  completion  of  the  three  hundred  or 
more— the  time  varying  much,  according  to  the  vital  force 
with  which  it  is  endowed  and  other  circumstances  perhaps 
unknown.” 

Viability  of  the  child. — It  sometimes  happens  that  the 
child  is  born  before  its  natural  time.  This  occurs  generally 
in  first  pregnancies,  when  the  womb,  on  account  of  its  being 
unaccustomed  to  distension,  or  from  other  causes,  takes  on 
the  expulsive  contractions  of  labor,  and  terminates  the  preg¬ 
nancy  before  the  foetus  has  arrived  at  maturity.  The  earli¬ 
est  period  at  which  the  child  is  enabled  to  carry  on  an  inde¬ 
pendent  existence  is  involved  in  much  uncertainty.  The  pe¬ 
riod  generally  assigned  is  the  end  of  the  seventh  month. 

A  case  is  given  by  Dr.  Rodman,  of  a  woman  who  gave 
birth  to  a  child,  the  period  of  her  gestation  being  less  than 


222 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE . 


nineteen  weeks.  She  had  borne  five  children  previously,  and 
in  this  instance  premature  labor  came  on  in  consequence  of 
fatiguing  exertions,  and  she  was  delivered  of  a  living  male 
child. 

“  Not  daring  to  allow  the  washing  of  the  infant’s  body, 
he  was  speedily  wiped,  and  wrapped  in  flannel,  with  only  an 
opening  in  the  dress  around  his  mouth  for  the  admission  of 
air ;  and  by  the  time  the  dressing  was  over,  the  mother  was 
ready  to  take  him  into  the  warm  bed  with  herself.  It  is 
common,  if  there  be  much  apparent  weakness,  to  feed  a  child 
the  first  twelve  hours  after  birth  very  frequently  ;  yet,  in  this 
instance,  although  the  child  was  weak,  no  feeding  was  at¬ 
tempted  until  beyond  that  time  ;  the  nourishing  heat  with 
the  mother  in  bed  was  relied  on.  On  the  following  day,  the 
head,  body  and  extremities  of  the  child  were  surrounded 
with  fine  cotton  wool,  pressed  to  appear  like  cloth,  to  the 
thickness  of  two  or  three  folds,  and  over  that  the  flannel,  as 
before  ;  and  again  the  child  was  given  to  the  mother  in  bed. 
His  vital  energy  was  so  deficient  that,  even  with  this  dress, 
of  himself,  he  was  unable  to  support  the  degree  of  warmth 
which  was  necessary  to  his  existence.  The  heat  of  a  fire 
was  evidently  injurious,  as  he  soon  became  weaker  when  ex¬ 
posed  to  it ;  while  the  warmth  of  the  mother  in  bed  enli¬ 
vened  and  strengthened  him.  Too  much  heat  induced  a 
sickly  paleness  of  the  face,  with  an  obvious  expression  of  un¬ 
easiness  in  his  countenance  ;  and  the  abstraction  of  heat, 
even  by  tardily  undressing  his  head,  brought  on  a  nervous 
affection,  or  starting  of  the  muscles  all  over  his  body.  From 
seeing  how  these  morbid  affections  were  induced,  the  child 
was  kept  regularly  and  comfortably  warm,  by  the  mother 
and  two  other  females  alternately  lying  in  bed  with  him,  for 
more  than  two  months.  After  that,  he  could  be  left  alone 
from  time  to  time,  but  was  still  undressed  very  cautiously, 
and  only  partially  at  any  one  time.  It  was  not  till  the  child 
was  three  weeks  old  that  the  length  or  the  weight  of  the 
body  could  be  ascertained.  The  length  was  found  to  be 


PREGNANCY. 


223 


thirteen  inches,  and  the  weight  one  pound  and  thirteen 
ounces,  avoirdupois.  It  was  extremely  difficult  to  get  the 
child  to  swallow  nourishment  the  first  week ;  the  yellow  gujn 
soon  came  on,  and  the  thrush  seized  him  severely  on  the 
eighth  day,  and  was  not  cured  till  the  end  of  the  third  week. 
During  the  first  week,  he  was  fed  with  toasted  loaf  bread, 
boiled  with  water,  sweetened  and  strained  through  fine  lin¬ 
en  ;  in  the  second  week,  twenty  drops  of  beef  tea  were  ad¬ 
ded  to  the  two  or  three  tea-spoonsful  of  his  mother’s  milk, 
and  in  two  days  afterward  he  made  exertions  to  suck;  His 
mother’s  milk  was  gradually  substituted,  at  least  in  part,  for 
the  panada,  though  this  was  still  continued  occasionally. 
Under  this  careful  management  he  attained  the  age  of  four 
months,  at  which  time  his  health  and  excretory  functions 
were  peculiarly  regular.” 

A  child  born  at  the  expiration  of  the  seventh  month  is 
usually  so  far  developed  as  to  survive,  if  properly  taken  care 
of;  and  it  is  possible  for  a  child  born  of  a  healthy  mother,  at 
the  end  of  the  sixth  month,  to  live,  if  very  great  care  is 
taken  of  it. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


DISORDERS  OF  PREGNANCY. 


EFORE  noticing  the  require¬ 
ments  that  go  to  make  child¬ 
birth  natural,  and  therefore 
easy,  it  may  be  well  to  glance 
at  some  of  the  disorders  inci¬ 
dent  to  pregnancy. 

It  should  in  the  commence¬ 
ment  be  understood  that  the 
bearing  of  children  is  a  natural 
process — that  the  pre-natal 
growth  and  birth  of  the  child 
should  not — cannot — in  a  per¬ 
fectly  healthy  woman,  entail 
any  disorder,  disease,  or  even 
pain,  and  the  prevailing  opinion 
that  suffering  and  danger  are  inseparable  from  parturition  is 
a  reflection  on  God’s  loving  justice  and  mercy.  It  is  as  nat¬ 
ural  for  a  woman  to  have  a  child  as  it  is  for  a  tree  to  bear 
fruit,  or  an  animal  to  bring  forth  its  young ;  and,  being  nat¬ 
ural,  the  process  should  be  one  of  pleasure  rather  than  pain 
— one  of  desire  rather  than  dread. 

We  are  told  that  Indian  women,  whether  at  home  or 
marching,  without  physician  or  even  companion,  will  give 
birth  to  a  child,  and  immediately  after  are  ready  for  the  ob¬ 
servance  of  their  duties,  whether  it  be  the  drudgery  of  their 
home-life  or  the  fatigues  of  a  long  march. 


2*4 


DISORDERS  OF  PREGNANCY. 


225 


It  can  be  offered  in  argument  against  this  fact  of  easy 
births  in  native  women,  that  they  belonging  to  a  low  scale 
of  civilization,  the  heads  of  their  children  are  very  mod¬ 
erately  developed,  which  allowing  of  easy  birth,  might  ac¬ 
count  for  their  general  freedom  from  accident  and  pain; 
whereas,  when  the  mother  belongs  to  a  grade  of  society  who 
are  highly  intelligent,  well  learned,  and  progressive  in  their 
modes  of  thought,  the  head  of  such  a  child  will  be  from  a 
quarter  to  a  third  more  in  size  than  that  of  the  child  of  the 
uneducated  mother.  And  yet,  making  all  due  allowance 
for  this  fact,  if  the  civilized  mother  be  endowed  with  perfect 
health,  and  closely  follow  the  laws  of  life,  child-birth  will  be 
as  easy  and  painless  as  Nature  intended  it  should  be.  The 
period  of  pregnancy  should  be  one  of  increased  health, 
rather  than' one  of  increased  disorders.  The  mother  who 
has  hitherto  led  a  true  life  will,  during  this  period,  experi¬ 
ence  an  exhilaration  of  spirits,  a  redundancy  of  health  and 
cheerfulness  of  mind  that  is  not  to  be  enjoyed  or  experienced 
at  any  other  time  of  life.  But  such  is  lamentably  not  the 
case,  else  there  would  be  no  need  of  including  this  chapter 
on  the  disorders  incident  to  this  period. 

The  underlying  source  for  much*  of  the  ill  health  during 
pregnancy,  may  be  discovered  in  the  nervous  system.  The 
nerves  of  organic  life  with  which  the  uterus  is  supplied  are 
never  sensitive  in  a  healthy  state ;  it  is  only  in  disease  they 
have  pain.  During  pregnancy,  while  the  evolution  of  a  new 
being  is  going  on  in  the  uterus,  a  large  supply  of  nervous 
power  is  drawn  from  the  rest  of  the  system  to  supply  the  de¬ 
ficiency  in  the  diseased  or  weakened  nerves  of  the  uterus — 
hence  the  outlying  organs  of  the  body  suffer.  The  stomach 
has  less  power  of  digestion,  and  consequently  there  is  nausea 
and  vomiting ;  and  low  spirits  and  hysterical  feelings  arise 
from  the  limited  supply  of  blood  to  the  brain. 

Nausea  and  vomiting — usually  called  morning  sickness, 
because  occurring  in  the  morning  when  the  woman  first  as¬ 
sumes  an  erect  posture — is  one  of  the  first  signs  of  preg- 

15 


226 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


nancy  in  most  women  who  are  not  of  perfectly  healthy  na¬ 
tures.  It  usually  commences  from  two  to  three  weeks  after 
the  beginning  of  pregnancy,  although  it  may  begin  on  the 
very  day  after  conception.  On  rising  from  her  bed,  the 
woman  will  not  feel  as  well  as  usual — she  will  have  nausea 
followed  by  retching.  It  may  not  occur  until  after  break¬ 
fast,  which,  eaten  with  a  good  relish,  will  almost  immediately 
be  thrown  up  again.  This  may  continue  more  or  less  con¬ 
stant  and  severe  for  several  weeks,  and  in  some  instances  un¬ 
til  near  the  time  of  quickening.  Some  physicians  assert 
that  morning  sickness  is  of  a  serviceable  nature,  in  its  opera¬ 
ting  as  a  safety-valve  for  its  protection  from  actual  disease, 
and  in  exciting  a  more  vigorous  action  of  the  uterus.  This 
is  wrong,  for  these  symptoms  are  unnatural ;  and  it  is  possi¬ 
ble  so  to  live  that  a  pregnant  woman  need  not  have  them 
any  more  than  any  one  else.  The  women  of  savage  nations 
never  experience  it.  A  close  observance  of  the  rules  for 
living,  mentioned  in  a  former  chapter,  will  enable  women  to 
greatly  palliate,  if  not  altogether  avoid,  morning  sickness. 
They  should  be  very  careful  what  food  they  use,  eating  small 
quantities  at  regular  intervals — say,  twice  a  day.  All  long¬ 
ings  for  all  sorts  of  things  should  be  kept  down,  and  abso¬ 
lutely  nothing  eaten  between  meals.  In  the  morning  a  glass 
of  pure,  cold  water  should  be  swallowed,  a  quickly-taken 
bath,  with  rapid  friction  of  the  skin  by  the  hands  of  the  wo¬ 
man  or  an  assistant.  After  dressing,  a  brisk,  enjoyable  walk 
in  the  open  air,  and  on  returning  a  very  light  breakfast.  As 
little  plain  food  as  possible,  eaten  at  regular  intervals;  the 
daily  sponge,  air  and  sun  bath,  and  active  daily  out-door  ex¬ 
ercise,  will  do  all  that  can  be  done  to  ameliorate  or  prevent 
this  distressing  disorder  of  morning  sickness. 

Longings. — Many  pregnant  women  experience  odd  de¬ 
sires  and  longings  for  particular  and  often  out-of-the-way  ar¬ 
ticles  of  diet.  These  longings  never  occur  in  women  who 
are  healthy.  On  examination  it  will  be  found  that  it  occurs 
particularly  among  those  who  have  little  or  no  physical  or 


DISORDERS  OF  PREGNANCY. 


227 


mental  exercise,  who  find  it  difficult  to  “kill  time,”  and  who 
altogether  are  constitutionally  indolent  in  their  habits. 
Again,  it  occurs  in  those  who  are  or  have  been  pampered 
and  indulged  on  every  occasion  by  a  lenient  husband  or 
over-kind  friend,  with  the  supposition  that  in  so  doing  they 
help  to  a  better  life,  while  in  fact  they  adopt  the  plan  that 
will  surely  culminate  in  a  sickly  wife  and  scrofulous  offspring. 
Many  of  these  women  believe  that,  if  their  longings  are  not 
satisfied  during  pregnancy,  they  will  in  some  way  be  incor¬ 
porated  on  the  child’s  body.  This  belief  in  general  cases  is 
erroneous  ;  for  the  majority  of  women,  especially  such  as 
belong  to  the  class  described  above,  do  not  exercise  in  their 
longings  a  sufficiency  of  energy,  strength  of  character,  or 
force  of  will,  to  transmit  any  deformities  or  idiosyncrasies. 
The  only  way  they  do  affect  the  child  is  imparting  to  it  a 
more  or  less  sickly  and  diseased  organism.  The  remedy  for 
these  abnormal  desires  is  active  exercise,  plain  and  unstimu¬ 
lating  food,  and  altogether  living  out  the  Plan  of  Life  laid 
down  in  a  former  chapter. 

Fainting. — In  women  of  a  weak,  nerveless  body,  fainting 
sometimes  happens,  caused  in  some  manner  by  the  derange¬ 
ment  of  the  heart’s  action  through  the  nervous  connection 
with  the  gravid  uterus.  Some  women  are  very  subject  to  it, 
from  the  slightest  causes,  during  the  whole  period  of  preg¬ 
nancy,  while  others  experience  it  only  occasionally,  and  some 
periodically.  When  it  occurs,  the  patient  should  be  laid 
down  with  the  head  low,  plenty  of  air  admitted,  the  dress 
loosened,  and  the  face  sprinkled  with  water.  The  restoring 
of  the  general  health  will  prevent  its  re-appearance. 

Sleeplessness ,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  often  occurs  du¬ 
ring  pregnancy,  and  it  is  sometimes  so  troublesome  as  to  al¬ 
together  prevent  sleep.  It  “most  frequently  affects  the 
weak,  nervous  and  irritable,  occurring  sometimes  early  in 
pregnancy,  but  oftener  toward  the  end  of  the  term.  The 
limbs  are  agitated  by  involuntary  contractions  of  the  mus¬ 
cles,  which,  by  the  frequency  and  suddenness  of  their  mo- 


228 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


tion,  instantly  interrupt  the  sleep  to  which  the  woman  was 
at  the  moment  strongly  inclined.  Those  who  bathe  daily, 
exercise  judiciously,  and,  when  possible,  in  the  open  air, 
drink  only  pure  soft  water  (and  all  can  have  this  from  the 
clouds),  partake  only  of  plain  and  unstimulating  food,  and 
sleep  upon  hard  beds  and  pillows,  in  cool,  fresh  air,  will 
rarely,  if  ever,  be  troubled  with  want  of  sleep.” 

Costiveness  is  very  apt  to  be  present  during  nearly  all  pe¬ 
riods  of  pregnancy.  This  is  caused  in  a  measure  by  the 
pressure  of  the  enlarged  womb  upon  the  lower  bowel,  but 
primarily  by  the  quality  and  quantity  of  food  used — super¬ 
fine  flour,  butter,  fat  meats,  tea,  coffee,  cakes,  sweetmeats, 
pastry,  etc.,  coupled  with  physical  and  mental  inactivity. 

“This  condition  of  the  bowels  induces  of  itself  numerous 
other  difficulties.  Headache  is  often  brought  on  solely  by 
constipation — that  is,  in  many  cases  we  remove  the  consti¬ 
pation,  and  the  headache  is  sure  to  leave  with  it.  Sickness 
of  the  stomach  is  always  aggravated  and  often  caused  by  it. 
The  same  may  also  be  said  of  heartburn,  palpitation  and 
fainting.  Sleeplessness,  and,  in  fact,  almost  every  one  of  the 
disorders  of  pregnancy,  may  be  said  to  be  caused  directly, 
or  greatly  aggravated,  by  constipation  of  the  bowels.  Even 
miscarriage  has  been  known  to  be  induced  by  it.” 

Constipation  can  always  be  cured  by  the  simplest  means. 
The  use  of  fine  flour  should  be  entirely  dispensed  with  in 
$uch  cases,  and  the  unbolted  wheat  meal  or  Graham  flour 
used  in  its  stead.  The  cracked  wheat,  cooked  in  various 
ways,  is  also  an  appropriate  and  excellent  article  of  diet. 
All  kinds  of  sweetmeats,  cakes,  pastry,  tea  and  coffee  must 
be  rejected.  The  laxative  fruits — such  as  figs  and  dates  ; 
apples,  either  raw  or  very  plainly  cooked  ;  vegetables  ;  a 
very  moderate  use  of  milk,  if  the  patient  desire  it,  although 
pure  water  should  at  all  times  be  the  only  allowable  drink. 
This  diet,  in  connection  with  regular  exercise,  an  occasional 
hip-bath,  and,  if  required,  an  injection  of  tepid  or  cool  water, 
will  cure  and  prevent  this  most  troublesome  complaint. 


DISORDERS  OF  PREGNANCY. 


229 


Diarrhoea. — It  occasionally  happens  that  diarrhoea  occurs 
in  place  of  costiveness.  When  such  is  the  case,  it  should  be 
treated  on  the  same  general  principles  as  constipation — a 
careful  diet,  the  hip-bath  often  repeated,  and  cold  injections 
taken  as  often  as  there  is  any  disposition  of  the  bowels  to 
act,  are  effectual  means. 

Piles. — Pregnant  women  are  often  subject  to  piles.  Of 
all  the  causes  which  operate  in  their  production,  habitual 
constipation  of  the  bowels  is  most  frequent.  If  this  is  avoid¬ 
ed  by  the  means  already  pointed  out,  there  will  not  often  be 
any  suffering  from  them  ;  but  if  this  is  permitted  to  exist, 
the  woman  may  during  the  whole  remainder  of  her  life  be 
more  or  less  annoyed  by  them,  and  may  suffer  far  more  than 
the  inexperienced  can  easily  imagine ;  for  they  are  often  ex¬ 
ceedingly  painful  and  troublesome,  and  daily  so.  Hence  the 
importance  of  keeping  the  bowels  in  their  proper  condition 
at  all  times,  and  especially  during  pregnancy  ;  for  it  is  in  this 
way,  and  in  this  way  only,  that  the  beginnings  of  the  evil 
may  be  prevented. 

Pruritus ,  or  Itching. — A  great  many  women,  when  preg¬ 
nant,  are  most  sadly  annoyed  with  a  severely  distressing 
pruritus  or  itching.  The  cause  of  this  affection  cannot  al¬ 
ways  be  ascertained,  but  a  want  of  proper  cleanliness  is  no 
doubt  one  of  the  principal  sources  of  it.  The  most  effective 
remedy  is  the  use  of  cold,  shallow  hip-baths,  the  vaginal  in¬ 
jection  of  cold  water,  the  application  of  cold,  wet  cloths,  or 
the  application  of  ice,  as  often  as  is  required.  Some  physi¬ 
cians  advise  the  washing  of  the  affected  parts  several  times 
a  day  with  a  strong  solution  of  borax,  made  by  dissolving 
one  ounce  or  more  in  a  pint  of  soft  water.  But  the  cold 
water  alone,  no  doubt,  is  as  equally  effective  in  palliating,  if 
not  curing  the  disease. 

Heartbur7i. — Perhaps  there  is  no  more  frequent  trouble 
during  pregnancy  than  that  which  is  experienced  from  heart¬ 
burn.  This  distressing  complaint  frequently  commences  im¬ 
mediately  after  impregnation.  It  is  caused  by  the  acidity  of 


230 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE . 


the  stomach,  and  acidity  of  the  stomach  comes 
from  improper  food.  Seldom  or  ever  will  a  pregnant  woman 
be  troubled  with  heartburn  who  adopts  correct  rules  for  eat¬ 
ing  and  living,  and  especially  as  relating  to  the  quantity  of 
the  food  eaten  ;  for  it  is  an  indisputable  fact  that  ninety-nine 
out  of  every  one  hundred  women  eat  too  much  food  while 
in  the  pregnant  state.  When  heartburn  first  shows  itself,  the 
woman  must  diminish  the  quantity  of  food  taken.  If  she  on 
rising  in  the  morning  experience  its  symptoms,  she  may  con¬ 
clude  that  portions  of  the  food  eaten  the  day  before,  instead 
of  digesting,  have  passed  into  acetous  fermentation,  and  thus 
caused  the  difficulty  she  experiences.  The  introduction  into 
the  stomach  of  more  food  at  this  time  will  but  make  matters 
worse  ;  therefore,  fasting  a  meal,  or,  if  required,  two  meals, 
with  water-drinking  in  place,  is  the  best  possible  thing  to  do, 
for  the  absence  of  food  will  allow  the  stomach  to  regain  its 
vigor.  If  a  quick  succession  of  tumblers  of  warm  water  are 
swallowed,  vomiting  will  take  place  and  relief  follow.  If 
vomiting  should  not  follow,  the  water,  by  diluting  the  offend¬ 
ing  matter  in  the  stomach,  will  still  afford  relief.  This  is  the 
only  rational  way  of  treating  heartburn,  and  is  at  all  times  to 
be  preferred  to  the  use  of  lime-water,  lemon-juice,  soda  and 
other  alkalies,  which  in  the  end  do  more  harm  than  good. 

Toothache . — Owing  to  the  increased  irritability  of  the  ner¬ 
vous  system  in  pregnant  women  whose  bodies  are  out  of  or¬ 
der,  erratic  pains  in  the  face,  but  especially  in  the  teeth,  often 
occur.  The  toothache  may  occur  in  decayed  teeth  or  per¬ 
fectly  sound  teeth.  If  the  tooth  is  a  decayed  one,  no  harm 
will  follow  in  having  it  extracted  ;  but  the  legitimate  method 
of  cure  is  by  proper  attention  to  eating,  drinking,  exercise, 
etc. 

Headache. — This  same  nervous  irritability,  caused  in  a 
measure  by  disregarded  hygienic  laws,  is  early  indicated  in 
pregnant  women  by  headache,  which  may  appear  and  dis¬ 
appear  at  any  part  of  the  period.  Caused  as  it  is  by  wrong 
living — the  use  of  tea  and  coffee,  improper  food,  unventilated 


DISORDERS  OF  PREGNANCY. 


231 


rooms,  and  want  of  judicious  exercise — it  is  only  required  in 
its  treatment  that  the  woman,  avoid  the  wrong  in  her  living 
and  adopt  the  right,  when,  as  a  sure  result,  the  headache 
will  disappear. 

Palpitation  of  the  heart ,  occurring  for  the  first  time  during 
pregnancy,  is  rarely  connected  with  any  disease  of  the  heart 
itself,  and  should  therefore  cause  no  alarm.  The  heart  being 
in  direct  nervous  sympathy  with  the  stomach,  palpitation  is 
generally  caused — as  is  nearly  every  other  disorder  during 
this  period — by  wrong  dietetic  habits,  and  therefore  the  rem¬ 
edy  is  to  adopt  and  carefully  follow  right  dietetic  habits. 

Swelling  of  the  feet  and  limbs. — During  the  latter  months 
of  pregnancy,  the  feet  and  legs  generally  become  much 
swollen,  particularly  in  the  after  part  of  the  day.  In  the 
great  majority  of  cases  this  is  a  trifling  disorder,  requiring 
simply  the  strictest  temperance  in  eating,  even  a  spare  diet, 
and  a  loose  state  of  the  bowels,  procured  by  the  means 
recommended  when  speaking  of  costiveness. 

Pain  in  the  breasts. — When  there  is  pain  in  the  breasts,  as 
often  occurs  during  the  first  pregnancy,  washing  the  parts 
with  cold  water,  and  wet  cloths  worn  upon  the  parts,  are  the 
means  to  be  employed  for  relief.  Compression  by  clothes 
should  be  avoided,  as  this  is  often  the  cause. 

Hysteria. — In  women  who  live  a  life  of  excitement,  attend¬ 
ing  frequently  balls',  theatres  and  public  exhibitions  late  at 
night,  and  especially  such  as  are  much  addicted  to  tea  and 
coffee-drinking  and  the  use  of  stimulating  food,  there  ap¬ 
pears  during  pregnancy  a  greater  tendency  to  hysterical 
symptoms  than  at  any  other  time.  Women  can  and  should 
avoid  these  causes  of  so  pitiable  a  disease — for,  whether  in 
pregnancy  or  at  other  times,  hysteria  cannot  come  upon 
those  who  live  correctly,  and  maintain  at  all  times  good  and 
permanent  health. 

Irritation  of  the  bladder. — Pressure  upon  the  urethra  or 
neck  of  the  bladder  is  one  of  the  mechanical  evils  of  preg¬ 
nancy,  rendering  the  evacuation  of  the  urine  difficult  and 


232  THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE . 

sometimes  painful.  To  prevent  this,  the  patient  should  be 
exceedingly  careful  to  evacuate  the  bladder  frequently,  and 
never  to  allow  the  calls  of  nature  to  go  unanswered. 

Jaundice  is  another  disorder  of  pregnancy  that  occasion¬ 
ally  makes  its  appearance  between  the  fourth  and  eighth 
month.  It  is  generally  preceded  by  a  disorganized  state  of 
the  stomach  and  alimentary  canal.  When  it  is  at¬ 
tended  with  violent  symptoms,  as  is  sometimes  the  case,  act¬ 
ive  measures  must  be  employed,  but,  in  the  majority  of  cases, 
a  few  days  of  abstemious  living,  alternating,  now  and  then, 
with  a  day  of  entire  fasftng,  together  with  the  daily  bath  and 
drinking  of  pure  water,  will  suffice  to  effect  a  cure. 

Vaccination. — Women  during  this  period  should  not  be 
vaccinated,  or,  for  that  matter,  at  any  other  period. 

Salivation. — Probably  most  women  experience  at  this 
time  a  more  than  ordinary  flow  of  the  salivary  fluid.  It  is 
usually  simply  an  observable  phenomena,  not  demanding 
any  treatment  whatever.  Yet  it  sometimes  becomes  very 
excessive  and  troublesome  to  the  patient,  especially  at  night, 
when  the  sleep  is  disturbed  by  the  frequent  necessity  of  emp¬ 
tying  the  mouth.  Those  women  who  follow  a  right  mode  of 
living  will  be  troubled  very  little,  or  not  at  all,  by  saliva¬ 
tion. 

Vomiting  of  blood  sometimes  occurs  when  there  is  a  gen¬ 
eral  fullness  of  the  system,  or  perhaps  from  the  cessation  of 
the  menstrual  function  in  the  earlier  periods  of  pregnancy. 
It  is  generally  small  in  quantity,  and  continues  but  a  short 
time.  If  it  arises  from  too  great  fullness  of  the  system,  it 
can  be  prevented  by  abstinence  and  fasting.  Failing  in  this, 
cold,  wet  compresses  should  be  placed  upon  the  abdomen, 
and  otherwise  proceed  upon  the  same  general  principles  as 
in  any  other  case  of  hemorrhage. 

Abortion  or  miscarriage. — By  abortion  is  meant  the  expul¬ 
sion  of  the  foetus  before  the  seventh  month  (should  it  take 
place  between  the  seventh  and  ninth  months  it  is  called  a 
premature  birth.) 


DISORDERS  OF  PREGNANCY. 


233 


“  There  is  no  accident  befalling  female  health  which  forms 
a  greater  source  of  dread,  anxiety,  and  subsequent  regret  to 
a  married  woman,  than  miscarriage  or  abortion.  When  this 
occurrence  becomes  habitual,  there  are  no  circumstances  the 
consequences  of  which  are  productive  of  more  serious  injury 
to  the  constitution,  blasting  the  fairest  promises  of  health, 
and *oft- times  laying  the  first  seeds  of  fatal  disease.” 

It  often  occurs  within  three  or  four  weeks  from  the  period 
of  conception,  but  it  more  frequently  occurs  from  the  eighth 
to  the  twelfth  week  than  at  any  other  time,  and  is  most  likely 
to  occur  at  the  time  the  catamenia  should  have  appeared,  if 
pregnancy  had  not  taken  place. 

What  are  the  causes  for  this  unnatural  and  undesirable  ac¬ 
cident  in  the  pregnant  woman  ?  In  the  first  place,  there  are 
certain  classes  of  females  more  subject  to  it  than  others. 
Those  who- are  fleshy  or  excessively  fat;  those  who  experi¬ 
ence  excessive  menstruation  ;  those  possessed  of  a  scrofulous 
organization  ;  and  those  who  have  dropsy  or  are  affected 
with  cancers,  are  all  in  a  measure,  unless  very  guarded  as  to 
their  mode  of  life,  predisposed  to  miscarriage  during  preg¬ 
nancy.  It  is  often  brought  on,  or  in  a  remote  way  caused  by 
excessive  drinking  of  strong  tea  and  coffee,  eating  habitually 
highly  concentrated  food,  living  a  life  of  excitement,  frequent¬ 
ing  balls,  parties,  and  theatres  late  at  night ;  constant  novel¬ 
reading,  and  especially  in  those  women  who  during  this  pe¬ 
riod  are  used  by  their  brutish  husbands  in  the  sensual  exer¬ 
cise  of  what  they  are  pleased  to  term  their  marital  rights. 

Again,  the  death  or  premature  expulsion  of  the  foetus  may 
be  caused  by  extreme  costiveness,  purging,  vomiting,  tight 
clothing,  acute  disease,  terror,  fright,  falls  blows,  or-  exces¬ 
sive  fatigue. 

And  lastly,  it  may  be  caused  designedly,  either  by  medi¬ 
cine  or  violence,  which  of  all  the  causes  entails  the  most 
danger  to  the  life  of  the  mother,  as  by  the  resulting  exces¬ 
sive  flooding  or  inflammation  of  the  bowels  it  frequently  ter¬ 
minates  fatally.  Under  the  head  of  Foeticide  (Chapter  XXII), 


234 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


I  have  fully  enlarged  on  this  great  sin  and  its  undesirable 
penalties. 

The  effects  of  abortion  on  the  woman  are  serious  and  last¬ 
ing.  There  is  a  stronger  tendency  to  a  recurrence  of  the 
evil,  for  those  who  miscarry  once  are  apt  to  do  so  again  ; 
menorrhagia,  or  an  immoderate  flow  of  the  menses,  always 
results,  as  does  also  irregularity  of  the  monthly  periods,  these 
occurring  either  too  often  or  too  seldom;  menstruation  with 
more  pain  and  suffering  than  attend  labor  itself ;  hysteria ; 
dissatisfaction  with  the  pursuits  and  pleasures  of  life,  with  an 
habitually  melancholic  state  of  the  mind,  are  nearly  always 
present.  All  women  should  earnestly  strive  to  guard  against 
and  prevent  miscarriage,  when  it  is  affirmed  that  one  abor¬ 
tion  is  far  more  trying  and  worse  upon  the  constitution  than 
half-a-dozen  natural  labors  at  the  full  term. 

Abortion  always  indicates  a  bad  state  of  the  system  gen¬ 
erally,  and  the  first  thing  a  woman  should  do  to  prevent  its 
occurrence  during  pregnancy,  is  during  the  period  of  prelim¬ 
inary  preparation  to  place  herself  in  as  close  relations  to  a 
sound  mind  in  a  sound  body  as  is  possible  for  her  to  do.  A 
healthy  woman,  following  closely  the  Plan  of  Life  and  Law 
of  Genius  already  recorded,  cannot  possibly  miscarry.  For 
this  reason,  the  woman,  to  prevent  the  possibility  of  this  se¬ 
rious  accident  occurring,  should  carefully  eat  only  plain,  sim¬ 
ple  food,  drink  only  pure  water,  bathe  daily,  exercise  daily, 
breathe  pure  air,  and  live  much  in  the  light  of  the  sun.  She 
should  also  avoid  feather  beds »  and  pillows,  over-heated 
rooms,  tea,  coffee  and  alcoholic  liquors,  all  manner  of  med¬ 
icines,  all  undue  mental  excitement,  and,  above  all,  sexual 
indulgence.  The  following  this  line  of  life  will  make  assur¬ 
ance  doubly  sure. 

In  those  women  who  have  not  lived  natural  lives,  on  the 
threatening  of  miscarriage,  the  symptoms  noted  are,  to  quote 
Dr.  Tracy  : 

“  When,  at  any  period  of  pregnancy,  we  have  regular 
pains  in  the  back  and  region  of  the  womb,  more  especially  if 


DISORDERS  OF  PREGNANCY. 


235 


attended  with  a  feeling  of  weight,  griping,  difficulty  in  pass¬ 
ing  water,  and  it  coming  away  in  drops,  and  a  feeling  of  de¬ 
scent  of  the  womb,  we  may  infer  that  abortion  will  take 
place. 

“  Now  and  then,  particularly  when  it  occurs  for  the  first 
time,  the  whole  process  of  a  miscarriage  does  not  occupy 
more  than  six  or  seven  hours  from  the  very  earliest  symp¬ 
toms  of  its  approach  to  its  final  completion.  But  in  by  far 
the  greater  majority  of  cases,  more  especially  when  it  has 
become  ‘  habitual,’  its  progress  is  not  terminated  in  as  many 
days  or  even  weeks. 

“  When  this  is  the  case,  it  may  be  clearly  separated  into 
three  distinct  stages.  By  adopting  this  division,  I  shall  be 
able  to  bring  the  most  important  portions  of  this  subject  be¬ 
fore  you  in  a  clear  light,  and  to  give  with  more  brevity  and 
distinctness  those  directions  which  are  to  be  followed. 

“  First  stage. — I  shall  speak  of  that  as  the  ‘  first  stage’  in 
which  the  child  has  as  yet  received  no  essential  injury — in 
which  the  symptoms  are  only  those  menacing  a  miscarriage. 
This  is  the  stage  of  warning ,  and  by  improving  it  in  time 
the  unhappy  event  may  frequently  be  avoided. 

“  The  first  symptom,  frequently,  is  a  feeling  of  great  de¬ 
pression  of  strength  and  spirits,  for  which  no  assignable  cause 
can  be  given.  The  patient  loses  her  appetite,  and  has  a  lit¬ 
tle  fever;  pains  about  her  back,  loins,  hips,  and  the  lower 
part  of  the  abdomen  soon  follow.  These  are  at  first  very 
transitory ;  they  come  and  go,  and,  after  a  while,  increase  in 
frequency.  Or,  in  case  she  has  a  strong  and  vigorous  con¬ 
stitution,  there  will  be  an  excited  condition  of  the  circulation, 
manifested  by  increased  frequency  and  fullness  of  the  pulse, 
throbbing  in  the  temples,  followed  by  headache,  a  hot  skin, 
thirst,  and  no  inclination  for  food,  and,  united  with  the  pain 
in  the  loins,  a  feeling  of  weight  and  tension  in  the  region  ol 
the  womb.” 

These  are  so  many  symptoms  threatening  abortion,  but, 
of  course,  they  are  always  modified  by  the  constitution  and 


I 


236  THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 

previous  state  of  health  of  the  individual.  For  instance, 
some  will  experience  only  an  indistinct,  dull,  aching  pain  in 
the  loins,  or  back,  or  some  other  part,  either  constant  or 
coming  and  going,  with  or  without  slight  languor,  continu¬ 
ing  many  days,  without  any  other  or  more  severe  symptoms. 

Such  symptoms,  however  slight,  should  receive  prompt  at¬ 
tention,  especially  if  they  come  on  about  the  same  period  of 
pregnancy  at  which  the  patient  has  previously  miscarried  ;  if 
they  do  not,  she  has  every  reason  to  expect  that  the  same 
event  will  again  befall  her. 

In  the  treatment  of  this  stage,  the  woman  should  retire  to 
bed,  and  confine  herself  strictly  to  it,  resting  on  a  mattrass, 
with  but  few  clothes  upon  her,  in  a  cool  room.  If  she  eat 
anything,  it  should  be  simply  cold  gruel,  and  her  drink 
should  be  cold  water  alone.  This  is  the  time  when  means 
can  be  used  with  the  most  prospect  of  success,  and  almost 
everything  depends  upon  their  being  put  in  operation  at  a 
sufficiently  early  period.  It  is  best,  after  observing  the 
above  directions,  to  send  for  the  family  physician,  whose 
rules  should  be  carefully  followed. 

“  Second  stage. — But  suppose  the  patient  has  not  heeded 
these  symptoms ;  that,  never  having  miscarried,  she  has 
thought  nothing  of  a  little  pain  in  the  back,  etc.,  and  has 
treated  them  as  of  no  importance,  what  will  be  the  conse¬ 
quence  ?  In  all  probability  the  local  pains  will  increase  in 
frequency  and  severity,  and  soon  a  small  discharge  of  blood, 
perhaps  in  clots,  will  be  discovered.  This  indicates  that  a 
partial  separation  of  the  ovum  from  the  womb  has  taken 
place,  and  marks  the  arrival  of  what  I  call  the  ‘  second 
stage/. 

“  This  is  a  stage  of  hope,  and  with  strict  attention  that 
hope  may  be  realized.  But  in  order  for  its  realization,  in  a 
situation  so  critical,  a  prompt  and  vigorous  practice  on  the 
part  of  the  medical  attendant,  and  an  equally  decided  and 
vigilant  conduct  on  the  part  of  the  patient  herself  will  be  re¬ 
quired. 


DISORDERS  OF  PREGNANCY. 


237 


u  If  the  premonitory  symptoms  already  described  as  con¬ 
stituting  the  ‘  first  stage’  have  been  present  for  any  length 
of  time,  it  is  comparatively  seldom  necessary  that  the  pro¬ 
cess  should  advance  to  this  second  stage,  unless  there  has 
been  a  death  of  the  foetus,  or  the  ovum  is  diseased  ;  but  it 
not  ynfrequently  happens  that  the  flowing  of  the  second 
stage  appears  almost  from  the  first ;  this,  indeed,  is  most  fre¬ 
quently  the  case  when  a  sudden  shock  or  fall  causes  the 
threatening  symptoms.” 

In  the  treatment  of  the  second  stage,  the  patient  should, 
until  the  physician  arrives,  pursue  the  same  course  as  already 
pointed  out  to  be  followed  in  the  first  stage,  with  the  addition 
of  keeping  a  linen  cloth  wet  with  cold  water  upon  the  lower 
part  of  the  bowels,  and  extending  downward  between  the 
limbs ;  this  should  be  frequently  exchanged  for  another,  so 
as  to  keep  a  cold  one  upon  her  constantly,  and  ice  water 
may  be  injected  up  the  vagina.  She  should  lie  upon  her 
back,  with  the  hips  a  little  raised,  and  her  head  and  shoul¬ 
ders  lower  than  usual,  and  lower  than  the  hips,  if  it  can  eas¬ 
ily  be  done. 

“  Third  stage. — The  third  stage  is  indicated  by  an  in¬ 
creased  flow  of  blood.  Sometimes  the  flooding  is  truly 
alarming.  The  pains,  too,  increase  in  frequency  and  sever¬ 
ity,  and  become  expulsive  and  bearing  down,  indicating  an 
entire  separation  of  the  ovum  from  the  womb.  When  the 
process  has  arrived  at  this  point,  there,  of  course,  remains 
no  hope  of  preventing  a  miscarriage,  and  it  only  remains  for 
the  medical  attendant  to  conduct  his  patient  safely  through 
to  the  end.” 

The  habit  of  aborting  is  to  be  avoided  by' maintaining  the 
general  health  in  as  good  a  condition  as  possible,  agreeable 
to  the  directions  already  given  in  the  preceding  pages,  and 
avoiding  the  causes  named  above,  or  any  other  causes  that 
have  been  known  to  produce  it  previously;  and  maintaining 
the  recumbent  posture  upon  the  bed  or  sofa  most  or  all  of 
the  term,  for  a  few  weeks  during  that  stage  of  pregnancy  at 
which  previous  miscarriages  have  taken  place. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


CONFINEMENT. 

7  is  asserted  by  some  reform 
physiologists  that  in  giving  birth 
to  children  women  should  not 
suffer  any  pain.  This,  I  think, 
is  going  to  extremes,  although 
many  every-day  evidences  seem 
to  bear  out  the  assertion.  Be  this 
as  it  may,  the  pregnant  woman 
can,  by  the  adoption  of  a  right 
life,  so  fortify  and  strengthen 
and  prepare  the  system  for  its 
labor  of  gestation  and  partu¬ 
rition,  that  the  pain  will  be 
greatly  ameliorated,  if  not  alto¬ 
gether  avoided,  and  accidents  or  after-disorders  cannot  pos¬ 
sibly  happen. 

In  Chapter  XVI.,  and  previous  chapters,  is  given  the 
mode  of  life  that  should  be  adopted  by  the  pregnant  woman. 
But  to  impress  the  matter  more  fully  on  the  minds  of  those 
interested,  I  will  here  briefly  recapitulate  the  requirements 
necessary  in  the  life  of  those  women  whose v  desire  it  is  to 
have  a  natural  and  easy  child-birth  : 

Clothing. — The  clothing  should  be  light,  loose  and  com¬ 
fortable  during  the  whole  period.  There  must  be  absolutely 
no  constriction  of  any  kind — by  corsets,  bands,  or  even  gar- 


238 


CONFINEMENT. 


239 


ters.  Especially  should  great  care  be  taken  to  keep  the 
breasts  from  being  in  the  remotest  manner  compressed  by 
the  clothing,  and  the  nipples  should  be  effectually  protected 
from  any  influences  that  will  tend  in  the  least  to  prevent 
their  enlarging  and  standing  out  prominently  from  the 
breasts  as  they  should  do.  Much  suffering  has  been  caused 
by  lack  of  proper  attention  in  this  respect. 

Do  not  let  a  falsely  educated  modesty  interfere  with  the 
full,  free,  and  loose  mode  of  wearing  the  dress.  Women — 
especially  those  who  court  the  pleasures  and  flatteries  of  the 
great  hollow  sham,  Society — have  been  known,  by  tight 
lacing  and  dressing — so  as  to  avoid  the  appearance  of  their 
natural  condition— to  bring  forth  children  that  were  greatly 
deformed,  and  of  sickly,  pale  and  weak  organizations.  The 
woman  pregnant  with  a  new  life,  instead  of  assuming  a  mod¬ 
esty  that  is  as  wrong  as  it  is  unnatural,  should  glory  in  the 
opportunity  and  privilege  of  being  the  mother  of  a  new  be¬ 
ing,  the  developer  of  a  new  soul. 

Food. — The  food  used  exerts  a  wonderful  influence  on  the 
health  and  strength  of  the  pregnant  woman  and  on  the  easy 
birth  of  the  child,  and  therefore  all  care  should  be  taken  to 
follow  as  closely  as  possible  correct  dietetic  laws.  Flesh- 
meats,  tea,  coffee,  grease  and  spices  should  be  avoided,  and 
a  judicious  use  of  the  grains,  vegetables,  and  especially 
fruits,  made.  It  should  never  be  forgotten  that  a  pregnant 
woman,  in  a  perfect  state  of  health,  does  not  require  any 
more  food  because  pregnant  than  she  should  if  otherwise. 
Women  would  add  much  to  their  health  during  this  period 
if  they  would  adopt  the  two-meals-a-day  system.  When 
this  cannot  or  will  not  be  done,  the  last  meal  should  be  very 
light  and  very  simple.  Altogether,  the  Plan  of  Life  given 
in  a  former  chapter  should  as  closely  as  possible  be  adopted. 

A  too  early  consolidation  of  the  bones  of  the  foetus  is  one 
of  the  reasons  for  dangerous  and  painful  child-birth.  This 
in  a  great  measure  can  be  avoided,  and  the  pain  and  labor 
greatly  lessened,  if  the  woman  will,  for  about  two  weeks 


240 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE . 


previous  to  confinement,  abstain  from  all  food  having  in  it 
the  bone-forming  material — phosphate  of  lime  and  magnesia 
— as  Graham  or  white  flour,  beans,  peas,  barley,  and  all  fa¬ 
rinaceous  substances,  and  milk,  butter  and  cheese ;  in  the 
place  of  these,  using  only  fruits  and  vegetables ;  and  of  the 
former,  the  apple  is  at  all  times  the  most  palatable,  most 
healthy  and  nutritious.  The  child  born  under  these  condi¬ 
tions  will  be  softer  and  smaller  than  usual,  but  will  soon 
grow  into  strength  and  beauty. 

Rickets,  spina-biffida,  etc.,  in  the  infant,  originating,  as  is 
generally  supposed,  from  want  of  earthy  matter  in  the 
bones,  may  lead  thinking  persons  to  infer  that  the  adoption 
of  this  plan  would  be  at  too  great  an  expense  to  the  health 
of  the  child  in  comparison  with  the  freedom  of  pain  it 
would  allow  the  mother.  This  would  surely  be  so  if  it 
were  certain  that  such  diseases  of  the  bones  were  alto¬ 
gether  caused  in  this  way.  It  will  be  found  on  inquiry,  that 
the  parents  of  children  having  rickets  or  kindred  diseases, 
disobey  the  laws  of  life  in  scores  of  ways  that  would  pro¬ 
duce  these  undesirable  diseases,  as  living  in  unlighted,  un¬ 
ventilated  rooms,  lack  of  exercise,  uncleanliness  of  body, 
unwholesome  and  unhygienic  food,  and  irregular  habits.  A 
woman  who  has  suffered  much  in  parturition,  who  closely 
obeys  the  rules  laid  down  in  these  pages,  and  who  observes 
this  precaution,  of  avoiding  food,  containing  in  it  the  bone^ 
forming  element,  for  two  or  three  weeks  previous  to  con¬ 
finement,  will  experience  much  .freedom  from  suffering,  and 
the  child  will  in  no  way  be  abnormal.  A  woman  who  has 
heretofore  had  a  succession  of  still-born  children,  caused  by 
the  large  size  of  the  foetus,  or  the  small  size  of  the  pelvis,  if 
this  rule  is  adopted,  and  all  the  other  requirements  of  baths, 
exercise,  etc.,  be  observed,  will  not  fail  in  giving  birth  to  a 
living  child. 

The  last  day  or  two  previous  to  confinement,  it  will 
greatly  help  the  woman,  if  she  abstain  from  food  in  part  if 
not  altogether.  The  Drink  should  be  only  pure  water. 


CONFINEMENT. 


241 


Baths. — If  the  woman  desires  to  experience  the  pleasures 
rather  than  the  pains  of  maternity,  the  daily  water,  air  and 
sun-bath,  taken  under  conditions  already  mentioned,  must 
not  be  omitted  during  the  whole  nine  months  of  pregnancy. 
At  the  time  the  bath  is  taken  the  breasts  should  be  well 
bathed,  dried,  and  thoroughly  rubbed  with  the  dry  hand. 
This  rubbing  commencing  with  the  commencement  of  preg¬ 
nancy,  and  repeated  at  every  daily  bath,  will  strengthen  and 
toughen  the  parts  and  so  prevent  that  chapped  and  fissured 
state  of  the  skin,  and  the  sore  and  cracked  nipples  that  very 
often  trouble  and  distress  the  poor  mother  every  time  the 
child  is  applied  to  the  breast.  Twice  a  week,  not  less  than 
once  a  week,  a  sitz-bath  should  be  taken.  The  mode  of 
taking  the  sitz-bath  is  to  fill  an  ordinary  common-sized  tub 
with  sufficient  water  of  cool  or  cold  temperature,  so  that 
when  the  person  sits  down,  the  water  will  cover  the  hips 
and  lower  portions  of  the  abdomen.  When  convenient  a 
vessel  should  be  made  for  the  purpose,  having  the  bottom 
raised  a  few  inches  from  the  floor,  and  the  back  raised 
to  rest  against.  All  clothing  being  removed,  the  woman 
should  be  wrapped  up  in  her  bath  with  a  blanket  or  com¬ 
fortable.  Sometimes  it  is  necessary  that  the  feet  should  be 
placed  in  a  warm  foot-bath  ;  when  this  is  done,  they  should 
be  dipped  in  cold  water  when  taken  out  of  the  warm  bath. 
The  best  time  for  the  pregnant  woman  to  take  this  bath  is 
just  before  taking  her  daily  bath  at  noon;  although  should 
circumstances  not  allow,  it  may  answer  to  take  it  just  before 
going  to  bed.  The  woman  can  remain  in  her  hip-bath  from 
fifteen  minutes  to  half  an  hour,  as  her  feelings  may  decide. 
These  baths  at  all  times  must  be  taken  in  a  room  of  a  nat¬ 
ural  and  pleasant  temperature,  for  when  they  cannot  be  taken 
under  pleasant  and  enjoyable  conditions  they  do  more  harm 
than  good. 

Injections. — It  is  desirable  through  the  whole  period  of 
pregnancy  that  the  bowels  be  moved  daily.  When  this  does 
not  occur  naturally  an  injection  of  water  of  a  cool  tempera- 

16 


242  THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE . 

ture  should  be  employed  at  or  about  the  time  the  natural 
passage  should  have  occurred.  During  the  last  weeks  of 
pregnancy  the  daily  movement  of  the  bowels  should  never 
be  neglected.  The  injections  are  made  with  any  one  of  the 
patent  elastic  rubber  syringes,  which  can  be  obtained  of  any 
druggist. 

Air  and  light — the  importance  of  which  has  been  so 
plainly  stated — must  not  be  neglected.  Especially  should 
the  bed-chamber, ^at  all  periods  of  the  day  and  night,  be 
thoroughly  ventilated,  and  no  curtain  or  blind  be  permitted 
to  obstruct  the  sun’s  rays. 

Exercise. — Daily  physical  exercise,  so  important  in  ameli¬ 
orating  the  pain  of  confinement,  should  never  be  omitted. 

Preparations  for  Confinement. — In  the  preparation 
for  confinement,  the  room,  bed  and  clothing  for  the  infant 
should  all  be  put  in  perfect  order  and  readiness. 

Notice  should  be  given  to  the  friend  who  is  desired  to  be 
present.  She  should  have  some  knowledge  and  personal 
experience  in  such  matters.  The  medical  attendant  should 
also  be  apprised.  Many  women,  when  in  this  condition, 
dread  the  presence  of  a  male  accoucheur,  and  perhaps  justly 
so  ;  whenever  the  opportunity  presents  itself,  the  preference 
should  be  given  to  an  educated  and  experienced  female  mid¬ 
wife.  If  women  closely  obeyed  the  rules  laid  down  in  these 
pages  for  the  right  government  of  the  sexual  organism,  they 
would  not  require  the  attendance  of  either  male  or  female 
midwife.  These  persons — the  female  friend  and  medical  at¬ 
tendant,  and  perhaps  the  husband — are  all  that  should  be  al¬ 
lowed  in  the  room  during  confinement.  A  crowd  of  women 
in  the  lying-in  chamber,  as  is  often  the  case,  is  at  all  times 
to  be  deprecated  and  avoided,  for  they  oft-times  exceedingly 
irritate  and  annoy  the  patient,  and  otherwise  in  a  variety  of 
ways  do  much  harm. 

Some  days  previous  to  the  commencement  of  labor  there 
is  a  diminution  in  the  size  of  the  body  and  a  subsidence  of 


CONFINEMENT. 


243 


the  abdomen,  caused  by  the  sinking  of  the  womb  and  its 
contents  into  the  brim  of  the  pelvis.  When  this  takes  place, 
the  stomach  is  more  or  less  relieved,  and  there  is  a  much 
more  general  feeling  of  comfort  and  elasticity  than  has  been 
experienced  for  a  long  time.  If,  after  a  week  or  ten  days 
following  this  “  settling  down”  of  the  womb,  the  woman  feels 
unusually  well,  she  may  expect  to  become  a  mother  within 
twenty-four  or  forty-eight  hours. 

The  remainder  of  this  chapter  I  abridge,  in  a  great  meas¬ 
ure,  from  a  work  entitled  41  The  Mother  and  her  Offspring,” 
by  Dr.  Tracy. 

The  commencement  of  labor  is  usually  first  indicated  by 
the  occurrence  of  one  or  more  of  the  following  symptoms, 
particularly  the  last  named  : 

1.  An  irritability  of  the  bladder,  and  perhaps  of  the  lower 
bowel,  causing  the  patient  to  have  an  almost  constant  desire 
for  their  evacuation. 

2.  Rigors  or  shiverings,  unattended  with  any  sensation  of 
cold. 

3.  An  increased  mucus  discharge  or  flow,  sometimes 
streaked  with  blood. 

4.  Nausea  and  vomiting.  The  occurrence  of  this  is  re¬ 
garded  as  a  good  sign,  as  it  is  known  to  indicate  that  the 
mouth  of  the  womb  is  rapidly  dilating. 

5.  The  occurrence  of  true  labor  pains. 

These  frequently  commence  in  the  back  ;  sometimes  they 
are  first  felt  in  the  uterine  region,  or  lowest  and  front  part  of 
the  abdomen,  and  extending  from  thence  to  the  loins,  the 
lower  part  of  the  back,  and  the  inner  sides  of  the  thighs. 
They  arc  not  constant,  but  periodical  or  intermittent — that 
is,  pain  is  felt  for  a  moment  or  two,  and  then  it  entirely 
ceases  for  a  considerable  time.  At  the  commencement  there 
is  often  merely  a  feeling  of  uneasiness ;  and  when  active 
pains  first  begin  they  arc  short  and  slight,  having  long  inter¬ 
vals-  between  them,  of  perhaps  half  an  hour  or  more,  each 
pain  lasting  but  a  few  moments.  By  degrees,  they  become 


244 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


more  and  more  frequent,  longer  and  harder,  till  the  termina¬ 
tion  of  labor. 

During  the  last  weeks  of  pregnancy,  women  are  not  un- 
frcqucntly  troubled  with  irregular  pains  in  the  bowels,  back 
and  other  parts,  which  arc  called  false  pains,  because  they  so 
closely  simulate  those  of  true  labor. 

When  the  labor-pains  commence  in  the  manner  described 
the  woman  may  either  sit  in  an  easy  chair,  or  lie  down,  as 
may  be  most  agreeable  to  her  feelings.  There  is  usually  no 
occasion  for  sitting  still  or  lying  down  at  once  when  the 
pains  first  commence,  as  many  do,  and  perhaps  some  arc 
compelled  to  do.  It  is  much  better  to  keep  about  and  busy 
one’s  self  in  some  way  as  long  as  may  be. 

It  is,  in  most  eases,  several  hours  after  the  pains  com¬ 
mence  before  the  mouth  of  the  womb  becomes  sufficiently 
dilated  for  the  “  sac  of  waters”  to  be  formed  ;  and  in  first 
labors  it  is  usually,  but  not  always,  much  longer  than  in  sub¬ 
sequent  ones.  The  woman  should,  during  this  time,  attend 
to  the  evacuation  of  water  frequently ;  and  if  the  bowels 
have  not  recently  been  evacuated,  it  will  be  well  to  make  use 
of  an  injection,  so  as  to  remove  everything  from  their  lower 
portion. 

Should  the  hour  for  the  regular  meal  occur,  she  should 
refrain  from  more  than  a  very  small  quantity  of  food — bet¬ 
ter  none  at  all.  During  the  whole  period  of  labor  little  or 
no  nourishment  should  be  taken,  and  that,  if  any,  of  the 
lightest  kind.  If  there  is  thirst,  cold  water  may  be  taken 
freely. 

Should  the  medical  attendant  fail  to  arrive  at  this  time,  as 
sometimes  happens,  the  woman  should  be  guided  by  the  fol¬ 
lowing  rules: 

She  should  continue  to  move  about,  etc.,  until  the  pains 
become  so  severe  that  she  feels  indisposed  to  move  about 
any  longer,  or  until  she  feels  a  disposition  to  “bear  down” 
during  each  pain. 

This  disposition  to  “bear  down”  is  the  distinctive  mark  of 


CONFINEMENT. 


245 


the  ending  of  the  first  stage  of  labor  (the  complete  dilation 
of  the  mouth  of  the  uterus,  etc.),  and  the  commencement 
0f  the  second  stage  (the  expulsion  of  the  child.)  The  first 
sta^c  is  by  far  the  longest  usually,  the  pains  being  short  and 
far  between,  becoming  longer  and  more  frequent  as  the  stage 
advances,  but  unaccompanied  by  any  disposition  to  bear 
down,  and,  so  long  as  the  pains  arc  not  bearing  down,  the 
patient  may  keep  about  with  advantage. 

After  the  bearing-down  pains  commence,  she  should  keep 
her  bed  most,  if  not  all  the  time.  It  is  quite  probable  that 
about  this  time  the  mouth  of  the  womb  is  rapidly  becoming 
fully  dilated,  so  as  to  admit  of  the  exit  of  the  child’s  head, 
causing  a  considerable  degree  of  nausea,  and  perhaps  vomit¬ 
ing  once  or  twice.  When  this  occurs,  the  labor  is  always 
found  to  proceed  rapidly. 

During  this  time,  perchance,  she  will  be  importuned  by 
the  attendants  “to  bear  down  forcibly” — that  is,  to  exert  the 
muscle,  under  the  power  of  the  will,  in  forcing  downward. 
This  is  a  very  bad  practice  ;  to  do  so  greatly  fatigues  the 
woman,  but  does  not  hasten  the  labor.  She  will  soon  be 
obliged  to  bear  down,  and  then  it  will  be  useful. 

After  the  nausea  ceases,  and  the  head  begins  to  press  upon 
and  to  dilate  the.  parts  below  the  womb,  the  pains  will  be¬ 
come  harder  and  harder,  and  more  and  more  frequent.  At 
this  time  there  will  probably  be  felt  a  disposition  to  hold  the 
breath  and  bear  down  whenever  the  pains  occur;  this  may 
be  done. 

She  may  also  feel  a  disposition  to  press  with  her  feet 
against  the  foot  of  the  bedstead,  and  to  take  hold  of  the 
hands  of  her  assistant  and  pull  at  the  same  time ;  this  she 
may  also  do. 

As  the  labor  draws  to  a  close,  the  woman  may  very  likely 
feel  that  she  will  never  live  to  see  the  end.  Should  such 
feelings  be  present,  she  must  not  indulge  them,  but  keep  up 
good  courage  ;  for  they  will  soon  give  way  to  a  feeling  of 
strength,  and  of  ability  to  help  herself  by  bearing  down, 


246 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE . 


holding  her  breath,  pushing  with  her  feet,  and  pulling  with 
her  hands. 

Up  to  this  time  she  can  lie  upon  her  back  or  upon  cither 
side,  as  is  liked  best  from  time  to  time  ;  but  now  she  should 
lie  upon  her  left  side,  with  the  back  near  the  edge  of  the  bed 
and  retain  this  position  until  after  the  child  is  born. 

In  due  time  a  long  and  hard  pain  will  expel  the  head  of 
the  child  from  the  womb.  One  of  the  attendants  should  now 
receive  the  head  upon  one  of  her  hands,  and  in  this  manner 
support  it,  so  that  its  .weight  will  be  sustained  by  the  neck. 

She  should  also  now  ascertain  whether  the  umbilical  cord 
is  wound  round  the  child’s  neck,  and,  if  it  is  so,  she  should 
endeavor  to  loosen  it,  so  as  to  slip  it  down  over  the  shoul¬ 
ders  ;  but  this  must  be  done  with  great  care,  and  without 
the  exertion  of  much  force  upon  the  cord.  If  it  can  not  be 
done  easily,  she  should  desist  from  further  attempts. 

While  in  this  condition,  the  patient  may  have  a  long  in¬ 
terval  of  rest  before  the  recurrence  of  another  pain,  and  the 
attendant  may  be  frightened  because  the  child  does  not 
breathe ;  but  she  has  no  occasion  to  be  so,  inasmuch  as  the 
child  has  never  yet  breathed,  and  the  circulation  is  still  car¬ 
ried  on  through  the  umbilical  cord  and  placenta. 

Soon  another  pain  will  expel  the  remainder  of  the  child. 
At  this  time  the  attendant  will  very  carefully  bear  the  head 
upon  the  palm  of  her  right  hand,  and  convey  it  downward 
away  from  the  patient,  just  so  fast  as  is  necessary  to  make 
room  for  the  advancing  body. 

(If  the  membranes  have  not  been  ruptured,  and  the  child 
is  born  inclosed  within  them,  as  is  sometimes  the  case,  they 
should  be  immediately  ruptured,  either  with  a  pair  of  scis¬ 
sors  or  the  fingers,  and  the  child  removed  from  its  perilous 
in  closure.) 

She  will  now  place  the  child’s  head  in  a  position  where  it 
will  rest  easy,  and  have  no  obstruction  in  the  way  of  its 
breathing.  It  will  very  soon  begin  to  breathe,  and  perhaps 
cry.  This  first  cry  of  the  child  often  has  a  powerful  effect 


CONFINEMENT 


247 


upon  the  feelings  of  the  now  exquisitely  happy,  overjoyed 
mother. 

When  the  infant  is  born,  and  the  function  of  respiration  is 
well  established,  the  beating  of  the  artery  of  the  umbilical 
cord  will  cease,  when  it  may  be  tied.  It  should  be  remem¬ 
bered  that  until  all  pulsation  has  ceased  in  the  cord — which 
can  be  ascertained  by  placing  the  cord  between  the  thumb 
and  finger — it  should  not  be  separated.  It  may  be  tied  in 
two  places — one  about  an  inch  from  the  body,  and  the  other 
two  inches  further  distant  from  the  child.  This  should  be 
done  with  a  small,  strong  ligature,  passed  two  or  three  times 
around  it,  tightly  drawn ,  and  tied  in  a  hard  knot.  The  um¬ 
bilical  cord  may  then  be  divided,  with  a  pair  of  scissors, 
midway  between  the  two  ligatures,  carefully  avoiding  the 
cutting  of  a  finger,  toe,  etc.,  of  the  infant,  who  in  its  strug¬ 
gles  is  apt  to  get  some  of  these  parts  in  the  way  just  as  the 
cut  is  being  made.  All  this  should  be  done  under  the  bed¬ 
clothing. 

The  child  is  then  to  be  carefully  taken  out  of  die  bed,  and 
wrapped  up  closely  in  a  soft  flannel  blanket  well  warmed, 
but  so  placed  as  to  allow  it  the  most  free  respiration  of  pure 
air. 

In  the  course  of  from  fifteen  to  thirty  minutes  the  pains 
will  again  commence  for*  the  expulsion  of  the  after-birth — 
when  the  woman  may  bear  down,  and  probably  before  long 
its  expulsion  will  be  effected. 

There  is  an  impression  upon  the  minds  of  many  women 
that  it  is  necessary  for  some  one  to  hold  the  umbilical  cord 
in  their  hands  all  the  time,  after  it  has  been  separated  from 
the  child,  until  the  after-birth  has  been  expelled  ;  but  there 
is  no  occasion  for  this,  if  a  ligature  has  been  tied  around  it, 
as  I  have  directed,  to  prevent  its  bleeding. 

Sometimes  it  does  not  pass  off  for  several  hours,  unless 
removed  by  other  means  than  the  contractions  of  the  womb  ; 
but  it  is  a  delicate  matter  for  a  person  not  well  instructed  in 
the  business  to  attempt  to  remove  it,  and  I  would  have  you 


248 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


decline  the  services  that  may  be  proffered  for  its  removal  by 
any  but  experienced  hands.  It  will  be  much  better  to  wait 
many  hours  for  the  efforts  of  nature  to  eject  it,  than  to 
run  any  risk  of  injury  from  its  forcible  removal  by  any  but  a 
skillful  accoucheur. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

MANAGEMENT  OF  THE  MOTHER  AND  CHILD  AFTER 

DELIVERY. 

UPPOSING  that  the  child  has  been 
born,  the  after-birth  cast  off,  and 
that  otherwise  the  delivery  has  ter¬ 
minated  favorably,  what  next  is  to 
be  observed  as  a  requirement  to  the 
rapid  recovery  of  the  mother. 

If  the  mother  has  heretofore  ob¬ 
served  the  practice  of  taking  daily 
baths,  the  first  thing  that  may  be 
done,  after  the  removal  of  all  soiled 
bed  and  other  clothes,  is  to  give 
her  a  bath.  If  the  precaution  is 
taken  of  placing  a  blanket  or  other 
extra  article  under  her,  this  can  be  done  by  an  attendant, 
rapidly  and  effectually,  without  the  woman  leaving  her  bed. 
This  bath  will  cause  in  the  mother  a  sense  of  great  comfort 
by  its  tonic  effects,  increasing  her  strength,  soothing  her  ner¬ 
vous  system,  and  promoting  a  desire  for  life- renewing 
sleep. 

Among  the  many  whims  and  caprices  that  custom  has  en¬ 
tailed  on  society,  is  the  one  of  bands  to  support  the  abdo¬ 
men  immediately  after  delivery.  The  healthy  woman  who 
follows  closely  a  right  line  of  life  will  require  no  such  band¬ 
age.  Yet,  when  such  is  desired,  a  wet  one  is  at  all  times  the 


*49 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


250 

most  desirable  and  effective  in  its  action.  The  principal  rea¬ 
son  for  the  almost  universal  use  of  the  bandage  after  deliv¬ 
ery  is  that,  unless  applied,  the  woman  s  form  will  be  in¬ 
jured. 

“  The  sum  and  substance  of  this  whole  matter  is  just  this: 
whatever  tends  to  weaken  the  constitution  in  general,  and 
the  abdominal  muscles  in  particular,  must  have  a  tendency 
to  produce  laxity  of  the  fibres,  thus  rendering  the  part  more 
pendulous.  On  the  other  hand,  whatever  tends  to  strengthen 
the  system,  and  to  give  tone  to  its  fibres,  must  have  a  con¬ 
trary  effect.  Now,  the  dry  belly-band,  even  when  it  is  so 
arranged  as  to  keep  its  place — which  it  generally  is  not — is 
apt  to  become  heating,  and,  of  course,  a  source  of  debility 
under  such  circumstances.  For  this  reason  it  is  plain  that  a 
cold,  wet  girdle  is  altogether  better  than  a  dry  one.  *  Nor 
should  this  even  be  left  on  too  long  at  a  time  without  chang¬ 
ing  and  re- wetting  it.  This  should  be  done,  as  a  general 
thing,  every  three  or  four  hours  at  farthest,  and  in  warm  * 
weather  oftencr.” 

If,  in  place  of  the  wet  bandage,  a  rather  large,  coarse  towel 
is  dipped  in  cold  or  cool  water,  the  surplus  water  wrung  out, 
and  then  placed  on  the  abdomen,  with  one  end  of  it  brought 
down  between  the  thighs,  a  more  easy  and  effective  applica¬ 
tion  could  not  be  had.  It  should  be  changed  as  often  as  is  * 
directed  in  the  case  of  a  wet  bandage,  mentioned  above. 
The  immediate  effect  of  the  wet  bandage  or.  towel  is  to 
strengthen  the  abdominal  muscles,  and  so  prevent  pendu¬ 
lousness,  and  to  cause  the  womb  to  firmly  contract  and  rap¬ 
idly  regain  its  usual  size,  and  so  preventing  all  danger  from 
hemorrhage,  fever,  etc. 

It  may  be  that  this  method  of  applying  water  to  the 
mother  after  delivery  will  cause,  in  a  large  class  of  women,  a 
feeling  of  horror ;  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  though 
not  generally  practiced,  and  as  a  rule  looked  on  with  suspic¬ 
ion,  it  is  no  new  thing.  The  application  of  cold  water  soon 
after  delivery  was  practiced  by  the  Romans,  and  to  this  day 


MAN  A  GEMENT  AFTER  DELIVER  V  25 1 


j5  practiced  by  savage  nations.  It  only  requires  a  trial — 
with  the  previous  preparation  by  baths,  exercise,  etc. — to 
convince  the  most  skeptical  of  its  wonderful  effects  in  palli¬ 
ating  the  pains  and  perils  of  child-birth. 

During  the  time  occupied  in  changing  of  clothes^  position, 
baths,  etc.,  after  delivery,  the  mother  must  in  no  way  exert 
herself,  allowing  her  attendants  to  do  all  that  is  required  in 
the  way  of  effort. 

The  soiled  clothing  having  been  changed,  the  body  bathed, 
and  the  wet  bandage  or  wet  towel  applied,  the  woman  should 
be  allowed  to  sleep  as  long  as  the  desire  is  present.  .The 
danger  of  hemorrhage  and  sudden  flooding  occurring  during 
the  sleep  is  very  slight  when  the  delivery  is  effected  under 
right  conditions.  The  bed-clothes  should  be  light,  so  as  to 
avoid  over-heating  of  the  body.  The  room  should  be  well 
lighted  and  thoroughly  ventilated  during  this  whole  period 
of  recovery.  I  urge  the  observance  of  this  rule,  for  it  is  the 
practice  with  many  to  exclude  every  breath  of  fresh  air,  as 
well  as  light,  from  the  lying-in  chamber,  taking  every  pre¬ 
caution  to  oblige  the  inmates  to  breathe  over  and  over  again 
the  same  poisoned  atmosphere. 

Not  only  should  the  room  be  kept  at  a  proper  tempera¬ 
ture  and  well  ventilated,  but  it  should  also,  for  the  first  week 
at  least,  be  kept  entirely  free  from  all  visitors.  This  advice 
is  most  important  and  should  be  faithfully  observed,  for  much 
trouble,  and  oft-times  great  danger,  is  caused  by  mental  ex¬ 
citement  after  delivery,  brought  on  by  the  officious,  though 
perhaps  well-meant  presence  of  visitors.  Says  Velpeau  : 

“  Most  of  the  diseases  which  affect  a  woman  in  child-bed 
may  be  attributed  to  the  scores  of  visits  of  friends,  neigh¬ 
bors,  or  acquaintances,  or  the  ceremony  with  which  she  is 
too  often  oppressed  ;  she  wishes  to  keep  up  the  conversation  ; 
her  mind  becomes  excited,  the  fruit  of  which  is  headache 
and  agitation  ;  the  slightest  indiscreet  word  worries  her;  the 
slightest  emotions  of  joy  agitate  her  in  the  extreme.  And  I 
can  affirm  that  among  the  numerous  cases  of  peritonitis  I 


252 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


have  met  with,  there  are  few  whose  origin  is  unconnected 
with  some  moral  condition." 

With  regard  to  food  and  drink  : 

“  The  patient  should  begin  directly  with  the  same  kinds 
which  she  intends  to  use  during  the  period  of  nursing.  If 
she  is  to  cat  fruit — which  I  consider  good  for  her — she 
should  take  it  from  the  first.  Prudence  should,  of  course, 
be  exercised  in  regard  to  quantity  as  well  as  quality  of  food 
under  these  circumstances. 

“  One  of  the  greatest  and  most  common  errors  in  regard 
to  the  diet  soon  after  labor,  is  that  of  partaking  of  articles 
which  are  too  fine  and  concentrated  in  their  nature.  The 
bowels  tend  naturally  to  sluggishness  for  some  days  after 
confinement ;  hence  the  diet  should  be  of  an  opening  na¬ 
ture — such  as  brown  bread,  cracked-wheat  mush,  good  fruit 
in  its  season,  and  good  vegetables.  It  is  a  poor  practice  to 
keep  a  patient  for  nine  days  on  tea,  superfine  bread,  toast 
and  butter,  and  the  like  articles.  It  is  no  Avonder  that 
women,  dieted  in  this  way,  become  constipated,  nervous, 
low-spirited  and  feverish."  . 

The  daily  bath  must  be  continued  after  delivery,  at  the 
same  time  of  day  and  under  the  same  conditions  as  before 
delivery.  The  day  after  delivery  the  woman  should  be  lifted 
out  of  bed,  and  given  a  sitz-bath  of  from  fifteen  to  thirty 
minutes,  in  water  of  a  cool  or  cold  temperature.  The  sitz- 
bath  may  be  continued  for  a  week  or  fortnight,  until  perfect 
strength  is  secured.  Whenever  the  sitz-bath  is  given  it 
should  immediately  precede  the  general  bath.  The  daily 
bath,  during  this  condition,  should  always  be  followed  by 
rest,  and,  if  possible,  by  sleep. 

“  About  the  third  or  fourth  day  after  confinement  the 
breasts  will  become  much  distended  with  milk.  They  may 
be  hard  and  painful ;  but  if  the  milk  is  drawn  out  of  them 
frequently,  either  by  the  babe  or  by  some  other  means,  and 
the  patient  has  been  careful  to  refrain  from  any  but  a  very 
small  quantity  of  the  plainest  kind  of  food,  there  will  prob¬ 
ably  not  be  much  trouble  in  this  way." 


MANAGEMENT  AFTER  DELIVERY. 


253 


At  this  time,  however,  she  may  expect  to  have  something 
of  a  chill,  followed  by  more  or  less  headache  and  fever — 
called  the  milk  fever — for  a  day  or  two,  when  it  will  pass 
off-  but  from  the  time  labor  commences  until  the  fever  is 
past,  none  but  the  plainest  and  lightest  food  should  be 

taken. 

In  order  to  prevent  the  nippies  from  becoming  sore,  the 
mother  should— -each  time  immediately  after  the  child  has 
done  nursing,  after  having  with  the  thumb  and  finger  gently 
compressed  it,  so  as  to  empty  the  capillary  vessels  that  were 
filled  by  the  suction — with  a  sponge  or  soft  linen  cloth  bathe 
them  thoroughly,  and,  after  carefully  wiping  perfectly  dry, 
they  may  be  dusted  over  with  pulverized  starch,  fine  arrow- 
root  powder,  or  any  other  dry  substance  of  a  like  inert  or 
harmless  nature. 

If  the  breasts  and  nipples  are  treated  as  recommended  in 
a  former  chapter,  and  the  above  course  be  observed,  there 
need  be  no  trouble  whatever  with  either  breasts  or  nip¬ 
ples. 

After  the  birth  of  the  child,  or  as  soon  after  as  is  conve¬ 
nient,  it  should  be  carefully  washed  all  over  in  soft  water, 
neither  too  warm  nor  too  cold,  with  the  addition  of  a  little 
mild  soap.  A  temperature  of  about  eighty  degrees,  Fah¬ 
renheit,  will  be  found  the  best.  The  dress  should  be  loose,  t 
and  merely  sufficient  for  the  purpose  of  warmth.  The  child 
should  not  in  any  way  be  bound  with  its  clothing,  nor  should 
a  binder  or  bandage  be  put  about  its  abdomen,  for  the  rea¬ 
son  that  it  always  causes  more  or  less  harm — that  is,  if  there 
is  no  malformation  of  parts — and  always  tends  to  induce  the 
very  difficulty  it  is  desired  to  prevent — namely,  that  of  rup¬ 
ture. 

The  child  should  have  a  daily  bath,  given  between  eleven 
and  twelve  o’clock,  great  care  being  taken  not  to  hurt  and 
fatigue  it  by  rough  handling,  and  that  it  be  done  as  quick  as 
possible. 

“  During  this  daily  process  of  washing,  which  should  not 


CONFINEMENT. 


243 


the  abdomen,  caused  by  the  sinking  of  the  womb  and  its 
contents  into  the  brim  of  the  pelvis.  When  this  takes  place, 
the  stomach  is  more  or  less  relieved,  and  there  is  a  much 
more  general  feeling  of  comfort  and  elasticity  than  has  been 
experienced  for  a  long  time.  If,  after  a  week  or  ten  days 
following  this  “settling  down”  of  the  womb,  the  woman  feels 
unusually  well,  she  may  expect  to  become  a  mother  within 
twenty-four  or  forty-eight  hours. 

The  remainder  of  this  chapter  I  abridge,  in  a  great  meas¬ 
ure,  from  a  work  entitled  “  The  Mother  and  her  Offspring,” 
by  Dr.  Tracy. 

The  commencement  of  labor  is  usually  first  indicated  by 
the  occurrence  of  one  or  more  of  the  following  symptoms,, 
particularly  the  last  named  : 

1.  An  irritability  of  the  bladder,  and  perhaps  of  the  lower 
bowel,  causing  the  patient  to  have  an  almost  constant  desire 
for  their  evacuation. 

2.  Rigors  or  shiverings,  unattended  with  any  sensation  of 
cold. 


3.  An  increased  mucus  discharge  or  flow,  sometimes 
streaked  with  blood. 

4.  Nausea  and  vomiting.  The  occurrence  of  this  is  re¬ 
garded  as  a  good  sign,  as  it  is  known  to  indicate  that  the 
mouth  of  the  womb  is  rapidly  dilating. 

5.  The  occurrence  of  true  labor  pains. 

These  frequently  commence  in  the  back ;  sometimes  they 
are  first  felt  in  the  uterine  region,  or  lowest  and  front  part  of 
the  abdomen,  and  extending  from  thence  to  the  loins,  the 
lower  part  of  the  back,  and  the  inner  sides  of  the  thighs. 
They  are  not  constant,  but  periodical  or  intermittent — that 
is,  pain  is  felt  for  a  moment  or  two,  and  then  it  entirely 
ceases  for  a  considerable  time.  At  the  commencement 
is  often  merely  a  feeling  of  uneasiness  ;  and  when  ; 
pains  first  begin  they  are  short  and  slight,  having 

LansMialf  an  hi 


244 


THE  SC  IE, 


OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


more  and  more  frequent,  longer  and  harder,  till  the  termina¬ 
tion  of  labor. 

During  the  last  weeks  of  pregnancy,  women  are  not  un- 
frequently  troubled  with  irregular  pains  in  the  bowels,  back, 
and  other  parts,  which  are  called  false  pains,  because  they  so 
closely  simulate  those  of  true  labor. 

When  the  labor-pains  commence  in  the  manner  described, 
the  woman  may  either  sit  in  an  easy  chair,  or  lie  down,  as 
may  be  most  agreeable  to  her  feelings.  There  is  usually  no 
occasion  for  sitting  still  or  lying  down  at  once  when  the 
pains  first  commence,  as  many  do,  and  perhaps  some  are 
compelled  to  do.  It  is  much  better  to  keep  about  and  busy 
one’s  self  in  some  way  as  long  as  may  be. 

It  is,  in  most  cases,  several  hours  after  the  pains  com¬ 
mence  before  the  mouth  of  the  womb  becomes  sufficiently 
dilated  for  the  “  sac  of  waters”  to  be  formed  ;  and  in  first 
labors  it  is  usually,  but  not  always,  much  longer  than  in  sub¬ 
sequent  ones.  The  woman  should,  during  this  time,  attend 
to  the  evacuation  of  water  frequently ;  and  if  the  bowels 
have  not  recently  been  evacuated,  it  will  be  well  to  make  use 
of  an  injection,  so  as  to  remove  everything  from  their  lower 
portion. 

Should  the  hour  for  the  regular  meal  occur,  she  should 
refrain  from  more  than  a  very  small  quantity  of  food — bet¬ 
ter  none  at  all.  During  the  whole  period  of  labor  little  or 
no  nourishment  should  be  taken,  and  that,  if  any,  of  the 
lightest  kind.  If  there  is  thirst,  cold  water  may  be  taken 
freely. 

Should  the  medical  attendant  fail  to  arrive  at  this  time,  as 
sometimes  happens,  the  woman  should  be  guided  by  the  fol¬ 
lowing  rules: 

She  should  continue  to  move  about,  etc.,  until  the  pains 

that  she  feels  indisposed  to  move  about 
til  she  feels  a  disposition  to  ‘‘bear  down” 


CONFINEMENT 


245 


the  ending  of  the  first  stage  of  labor  (the  complete  dilation 
of  the  mouth  of  the  uterus,  etc.),  and  the  commencement 
of  the  second  stage  (the  expulsion  of  the  child.)  The  first 
stage  is  by  far  the  longest  usually,  the  pains  being  short  and 
far  between,  becoming  longer  and  more  frequent  as  the  stage 
advances,  but  unaccompanied  by  any  disposition  to  bear 
down ,  and,  so  long  as  the  pains  are  not  bearing  down,  the 
patient  may  keep  about  with  advantage. 

After  the  bearing-down  pains  commence,  she  should  keep 
her  bed  most,  if  not  all  the  time.  It  is  quite  probable  that 
about  this  time  the  mouth  of  the  womb  is  rapidly  becoming 
fully  dilated,  so  as  to  admit  of  the  exit  of  the  child’s  head, 
causing  a  considerable  degree  of  nausea,  and  perhaps  vomit¬ 
ing  once  or  twice.  When  this  occurs,  the  labor  is  always 
found  to  proceed  rapidly. 

During  this  time,  perchance,  she  will  be  importuned  by 
the  attendants  “to  bear  down  forcibly” — that  is,  to  exert  the 
muscle,  under  the  power  of  the  will,  in  forcing  downward. 
This  is  a  very  bad  practice  ;  to  do  so  greatly  fatigues  the 
woman,  but  does  not  hasten  the  labor.  She  will  soon  be 
obliged  to  bear  down,  and  then  it  will  be  useful. 

After  the  nausea  ceases,  and  the  head  begins  to  press  upon 
and  to  dilate  the  parts  below  the  womb,  the  pains  will  be¬ 
come  harder  and  harder,  and  more  and  more  frequent.  At 
this  time  there  will  probably  be  felt  a  disposition  to  hold  the 
breath  and  bear  down  whenever  the  pains  occur ;  this  may 
be  done. 

She  may  also  feel  a  disposition  to  press  .with  her  feet 
against  the  foot  of  the  bedstead,  and  to  take  hold  of  the 
hands  of  her  assistant  and  pull  at  the  same  time  ;  this  she 
may  also  d^. 


246 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE . 


holding  her  breath,  pushing  with  her  feet,  and  pulling  with 
her  hands. 

Up  to  this  time  she  can  lie  upon  her  back  or  upon  either 
side,  as  is  liked  best  from  time  to  time ;  but  now  she  should 
lie  upon  her  left  side,  with  the  back  near  the  edge  of  the  bed, 
and  retain  this  position  until  after  the  child  is  born. 

In  due  time  a  long  and  hard  pain  will  expel  the  head  of 
the  child  from  the  womb.  One  of  the  attendants  should  now 
receive  the  head  upon  one  of  her  hands,  and  in  this  manner 
support  it,  so  that  its  weight  will  be  sustained  by  the  neck. 

She  should  also  now  ascertain  whether  the  umbilical  cord 
is  wound  round  the  child’s  neck,  and,  if  it  is  so,  she  should 
endeavor  to  loosen  it,  so  as  to  slip  it  down  over  the  shoul¬ 
ders  ;  but  this  must  be  done  with  great  care,  and  without 
the  exertion  of  much  force  upon  the  cord.  If  it  can  not  be 
done  easily,  she  should  desist  from  further  attempts. 

While  in  this  condition,  the  patient  may  have  a  long  in¬ 
terval  of  rest  before  the  recurrence  of  another  pain,  and  the 
attendant  may  be  frightened  because  the  child  does  not 
breathe  ;  but  she  has  no  occasion  to  be  so,  inasmuch  as  the 
child  has  never  yet  breathed,  and  the  circulation  is  still  car¬ 
ried  on  through  the  umbilical  cord  and  placenta. 

Soon  another  pain  will  expel  the  remainder  of  the  child. 
At  this  time  the  attendant  will  very  carefully  bear  the  head 
upon  the  palm  of  her  right  hand,  and  convey  it  downward 
away  from  the  patient,  just  so  fast  as  is  necessary  to- make 
room  for  the  advancing  body. 

(If  the  membranes  have  not  been  ruptured,  and  the  child 
is  born  inclosed  within  them,  as  is  sometimes  the  case,  they 
should  be  immediately  ruptured,  either  with  a  pair  of  scis- 
soi^oi^i^^rmer^^|ri  the  child  removed  from  its  perilous 


CONFINEMENT. 


247 


upon  the  feelings  of  the  now  exquisitely  happy,  overjoyed 
mother. 

When  the  infant  is  born,  and  the  function  of  respiration  is 
well  established,  the  beating  of  the  artery  of  the  umbilical 
cord  will  cease,  when  it  may  be  tied.  It  should  be  remem¬ 
bered  that  until  all  pulsation  has  ceased  in  the  cord — which 
can  be  ascertained  by  placing  the  cord  between  the  thumb 
and  finger — it  should  not  be  separated.  It  may  be  tied  in 
two  places — one  about  an  inch  from  the  body,  and  the  other 
two  inches  further  distant  from  the  child.  This  should  be 
done  with  a  small,  strong  ligature,  passed  two  or  three  times 
around  it,  tightly  drawn ,  and  tied  in  a  hard  knot.  The  um¬ 
bilical  cord  may  then  be  divided,  with  a  pair  of  scissors, 
midway  between  the  two  ligatures,  carefully  avoiding  the 
cutting  of  a  finger,  toe,  etc.,  of  the  infant,  who  in  its  strug¬ 
gles  is  apt  to  get  some  of  the  e  parts  in  the  way  just  as  the 
cut  is  being  made.  All  this  snould  be  done  under  the  bed¬ 
clothing. 


The  child  is  then  to  be  carefully  taken  out  of  the  bed,  and 
wrapped  up  closely  in  a  soft  flannel  blanket  well  warmed, 
but  so  placed  as  to  allow  it  the  most  free  respiration  of  pure 
air. 

In  the  course  of  from  fifteen  to  thirty  minutes  the  pains 
will  again  commence  for  the  expulsion  of  the  after-birth — 
when  the  woman  may  bear  down,  and  probably  before  long 
its  expulsion  will  be  effected. 

There  is  an  impression  upon  the  minds  of  many  women 
that  it  is  necessary  for  some  one  to  hold  the  umbilical  cord 
in  their  hands  all  the  time,  after  it  has  been  separated  from 
the  child,  until  the  after-birth  has  been  expelled  ;  but  there 
is  no  occasion  for  this,  if  a  ligature  has  been  tied  around  it, 
as  I  have  directed,  to  prevent  its  bj 

Sometimes  it 


24B 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


decline  the  services  that  may  be  proffered  for  its  removal  by 
any  but  experienced  hands.  It  will  be  much  better  to  wait 
many  hours  for  the  efforts  of  nature  to  eject  it,  than  to 
run  any  risk  of  injury  from  its  forcible  removal  by  any  but  a 
skillful  accoucheur. 


CHAPTER  XX. 


MANAGEMENT  OF  THE  MOTHER  AND  CHILD  AFTER 

DELIVERY. 


UPPOSING  that  the  child  has  been 
born,  the  after-birth  cast  off,  and 
that  otherwise  the  delivery  has  ter¬ 
minated  favorably,  what  next  is  to 
be  observed  as  a  requirement  to  the 
rapid  recovery  of  the  mother. 

If  the  mother  has  heretofore  ob¬ 
served  the  practice  of  taking  daily 
baths,  the  first  thing  that  may  be 
done,  after  the  removal  of  all  soiled 
bed  and  other  clothes,  is  to  give 
her  a  bath.  If  the  precaution  is 
taken  of  placing  a  blanket  or  other 
extra  article  under  her,  this  can  be  done  by  an  attendant, 
rapidly  and  effectually,  without  the  woman  leaving  her  bed. 
This  bath  will  cause  in  the  mother  a  sense  of  great  comfort 
by  its  tonic  effects,  increasing  her  strength,  soothing  her  ner¬ 
vous  system,  and  promoting  a  desire  for  life-renewing 
sleep. 

Among  the  many  whims  and  cajj 
iled  on  society 


s  cn- 


250 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE . 


most  desirable  and  effective  in  its  action.  The  principal  rea¬ 
son  for  the  almost  universal  use  of  the  bandage  after  deliv¬ 
ery  is  that,  unless  applied,  the  woman’s  form  will  be  in¬ 
jured. 

“  The  sum  and  substance  of  this  whole  matter  is  just  this  : 
whatever  tends  to  weaken  the  constitution  in  general,  and 
the  abdominal  muscles  in  particular,  must  have  a  tendency 
to  produce  laxity  of  the  fibres,  thus  rendering  the  part  more 
pendulous.  On  the  other  hand,  whatever  tends  to  strengthen 
the  system,  and  to  give  tone  to  its  fibres,  must  have  a  con¬ 
trary  effect.  Now,  the  dry  belly-band,  even  when  it  is  so 
arranged  as  to  keep  its  place — which  it  generally  is  not — is 
apt  to  become  heating,  and,  of  course,  a  source  of  debility 
under  such  circumstances.  For  this  reason  it  is  plain  that  a 
cold,  wet  girdle  is  altogether  better  than  a  dry  one.  Nor 
should  this  even  be  left  on  too  long  at  a  time  without  chang¬ 
ing  and  re-wetting  it.  This  should  be  done,  as  a  general 
thing,  every  three  or  four  hours  at  farthest,  and  in  warm 
weather  oftener.” 

If,  in  place  of  the  wet  bandage,  a  rather  large,  coarse  towel 
ds  dipped  in  cold  or  cool  water,  the  surplus  water  wrung  out, 
and  then  placed  on  the  abdomen,  with  one  end  of  it  brought 
down  between  the  thighs,  a  more  easy  and  effective  applica¬ 
tion  could  not  be  had.  It  should  be  changed  as  often  as  is 
directed  in  the  case  of  a  wet  bandage,  mentioned  above. 
The  immediate  effect  of  the  wet  bandage  or  towel  is  to 
strengthen  the  abdominal  muscles,  and  so  prevent  pendu¬ 
lousness,  and  to  cause  the  womb  to  firmly  contract  and  rap¬ 
idly  regain  its  usual  size,  and  so  preventing  all  danger  from 
hemorrhage,  fever,  etc. 

It  may  be  that  this  method  of  applying  water  to  the 
mother  after  delivery  will  cause,  in  a  large  class  of  women,  a 


MAN  A  GEMENT  AFTER  DELIVER  V.  251 


is  practiced  by  savage  nations.  It  only  requires  a  trial — 
with  the  previous  preparation  by  baths,  exercise,  etc. — to 
convince  the  most  skeptical  of  its  wonderful  effects  in  palli¬ 
ating  the  pains  and  perils  of  child-birth. 

During  the  time  occupied  in  changing  of  clothes,  position, 
baths,  etc.,  after  delivery,  the  mother  must  in  no  way  exert 
herself,  allowing  her  attendants  to  do  all  that  is  required  in 
the  way  of  effort. 

The  soiled  clothing  having  been  changed,  the  body  bathed, 
and  the  wet  bandage  or  wet  towel  applied,  the  woman  should 
be  allowed  to  sleep  as  long  as  the  desire  is  present.  The 
danger  of  hemorrhage  and  sudden  flooding  occurring  during 
the  sleep  is  very  slight  when  the  delivery  is  effected  under 
right  conditions.  The  bed-clothes  should  be  light,  so  as  to 
avoid  over-heating  of  the  body.  The  room  should  be  well 
lighted  and  thoroughly  ventilated  during  this  whole  period 
of  recovery.  I  urge  the  observance  of  this  rule,  for  it  is  the 
practice  with  many  to  exclude  every  breath  of  fresh  air,  as 
well  as  light,  from  the  lying-in  chamber,  taking  every  pre¬ 
caution  to  oblige  the  inmates  to  breathe  over  and  over  again 
the  same  poisoned  atmosphere. 

Not  only  should  the  room  be  kept  at  a  proper  tempera¬ 
ture  and  well  ventilated,  but  it  should  also,  for  the  first  week 
at  least,  be  kept  entirely  free  from  all  visitors .  This  advice 
is  most  important  and  should  be  faithfully  observed,  for  much 
trouble,  and  oft-times  great  danger,  is  caused  by  mental  ex¬ 
citement  after  delivery,  brought  on  by  the  officious,  though 
perhaps  well-meant  presence  of  visitors.  Says  Velpeau  : 

“  Most  of  the  diseases  which  affect  a  woman  in  child-bed 
may  be  attributed  to  the  scores  of  visits  of  friends,  neigh¬ 
bors,  or  acquaintances,  or  the  ceremony  with  which  she  is 
too  often  oppressed  ;  she  wishes  to  keep  up  the  conversation  ; 
'her  mind  becomes  excited,  the  fruir  of  wh i chN .vrrbvri  v-: 


252 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


have  met  with,  there  are  few  whose  origin  is  unconnected 
with  some  moral  condition.” 

With  regard  to  food  and  drink  : 

“  The  patient  should  begin  directly  with  the  same  kinds 
which  she  intends  to  use  during  the  period  of  nursing.  If 
she  is  to  eat  fruit — which  I  consider  good  for  her — she 
should  take  it  from  the  first.  Prudence  should,  of  course, 
be  exercised  in  regard  to  quantity  as  well  as  quality  of  food 
under  these  circumstances. 

“  One  of  the  greatest  and  most  common  errors  in  regard 
to  the  diet  soon  after  labor,  is  that  of  partaking  of  articles 
which  are  too  fine  and  concentrated  in  their  nature.  The 
bowels  tend  naturally  to  sluggishness  for  some  days  after 
confinement ;  hence  the  diet  should  be  of  an  opening  na¬ 
ture — such  as  brown  bread,  cracked-wheat  mush,  good  fruit 
in  its  season,  and  good  vegetables.  It  is  a  poor  practice  to 
keep  a  patient  for  nine  days  on  tea,  superfine  bread,  toast 
and  butter,  and  the  like  articles.  It  is  no  wonder  that 
women,  dieted  in  this  way,  become  constipated,  nervous, 
low-spirited  and  feverish.” 

The  daily  bath  must  be  continued  after  delivery,  at  the 
same  time  of  day  and  under  the  same  conditions  as  before 
delivery.  The  day  after  delivery  the  woman  should  be  lifted 
out  of  bed,  and  given  a  sitz-bath  of  from  fifteen  to  thirty 
minutes,  in  water  of  a  cool  or  cold  temperature.  The  sitz- 
bath  may  be  continued  for  a  week  or  fortnight,  until  perfect 
strength  is  secured.  Whenever  the  sitz-bath  is  given  it 
should  immediately  precede  the  general  bath.  The  daily 
bath,  during  this  condition,  should  always  be  followed  by 
rest,  and,  if  possible,  by  sleep. 

6i  About  the  third  or  fourth  day  after  confinement  the 
breasts  will  become  much  distended  with  jnilk.  They  may 
he  hard  a ncLnalnfnl  :  but  if  the  milk^is  drawn  out  of  them- 


MAN  A  GEMENT  AFTER  DELIVER  Y  253 


At  this  time,  however,  she  may  expect  to  have  something 
of  a  chill,  followed  by  more  or  less  headache  and  fever — 
called  the  milk  fever — for  a  day  or  two,  when  it  will  pass 
off ;  but  from  the  time  labor  commences  until  the  fever  is 
past,  none  but  the  plainest  and  lightest  food  should  be 
taken. 

In  order  to  prevent  the  nipples  from  becoming  sore,  the 
mother  should — each  time  immediately  after  the  child  has 
done  nursing,  after  having  with  the  thumb  and  finger  gently 
compressed  it,  so  as  to  empty  the  capillary  vessels  that  were 
filled  by  the  suction — with  a  sponge  or  soft  linen  cloth  bathe 
them  thoroughly,  and,  after  carefully  wiping  perfectly  dry, 
they  may  be  dusted  over  with  pulverized  starch,  fine  arrow- 
root  powder,  or  any  other  dry  substance  of  a  like  inert  or 
harmless  nature. 

If  the  breasts  and  nipples  are  treated  as  recommended  in 
a  former  chapter,  and  the  above  course  be  observed,  there 
need  be  no  trouble  whatever  with  either  breasts  or  nip¬ 
ples. 

After  the  birth  of  the  child,  or  as  soon  after  as  is  conve¬ 
nient,  it  should  be  carefully  washed  all  over  in  soft  water, 
neither  too  warm  nor  too  cold,  with  the  addition  of  a  little 
mild  soap.  A  temperature  of  about  eighty  degrees,  Fah¬ 
renheit,  will  be  found  the  best.  The  dress  should  be  loose, 
and  merely  sufficient  for  the  purpose  of  warmth.  The  child 
should  not  in  any  way  be  bound  with  its  clothing,  nor  should 
a  binder  or  bandage  be  put  about  its  abdomen,  for  the  rea¬ 
son  that  it  always  causes  more  or  less  harm — that  is,  if  there 
is  no  malformation  of  parts — and  always  tends  to  in  luce  the 
very  difficulty  it  is  desired  to  prevent — namely,  thal  of  rup¬ 
ture. 

The  child  should  have  a  daily  bath,  given  between  eleven 
and  twelve  o’clock,  great  care  being  taken  not  to  hurt  and 
fatigue  it  by  rough  handling,  and  that  it  be  done  as  quick  as 
possible. 

“  During  this  daily  process  of  washing,  which  should  not 


254 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


be  done  languidly,  but  briskly  and  expeditiously,  the  mind 
of  the  little  infant  should  be  amused  and  excited.  In  this 
manner,  dressing,  instead  of  being  dreaded  as  a  period  of 
daily  suffering — instead  of  being  painful,  and  one  continued 
fit  of  crying,  will  become  a  recreation  and  amusement. 

“  In  this,  treat  your  infant,  even  your  little  infant,  as  a 
sensitive  and  intelligent  creature.  Let  everything  which 
must  be  done  be  made,  not  a  source  of  pain,  but  of  pleas¬ 
ure,  and  it  will  then  become  a  source  of  health,  and  that 
both  of  body  and  mind  ;  a  source  of  exercise  to  the  one,  and 
of  early  discipline  to  the  other.” 

In  the  dressing  of  the  child,  the  principal  object  is  to  have 
it  warm .  light  and  loose.  The  extremities  should  be  as 
warmly  clad  as  are  the  other  parts  of  the  body,  and  short 
sleeves  and  low-neck  dresses  should  be  avoided  as  being  no 
more  suitable  for  children  than  for  adult  persons,  and  at  all 
times  being  unphysiological  and  promotive  of  sickness  and 
premature  death. 

“  These  remarks  in  regard  to  dress  are  particularly  appli¬ 
cable  to  the  first  stages  of  infancy,  for  many  children  suffer 
severely,  and  even  fatally,  for  want  of  proper  clothing,  whose 
parents,  blinded  by  fashion,  are  not  aware  of  it. 

“Mothers  are  apt  to  forget  that  their  children  need  exer¬ 
cise  ;  that,  even  in  the  earliest  days  of  infancy,  they  wish  to 
kick  with  their  feet,  and  perform  a  thousand  other  muscular 
movements,  which  they  will  not  be  able  to  do  with  the  free¬ 
dom  desirable  if  their  clothing  is  either  too  heavy  or  put  on 
improperly.” 

The  r  ursery-room,  in  which  the  child  is  to  live  princi¬ 
pally,  sh  ould  be  well  lighted  and  well  ventilated.  If  proper 
ventilation  is  such  an  important  consideration  for  mankind, 
it  is  much  more  so  for  babykind.  Says  Sturno : 

“Warm  rooms,  in  my  opinion,  principally  contribute  to 
the  extraordinary  mortality  of  children,  who  are  carried  off 
by  convulsions  during  the  first  months  of  their  life. 

“The  practice  of  keeping  nurseries  very  warm  is  particu- 


MA  NA  GEM  ENT  A  FTER  DELIVER  V  255 

larly  detrimental  to  children  during  the  period  of  teeth¬ 
ing. 

“The  custom  of  feeding  children  with  inappropriate  ar¬ 
ticles  almost  as  soon  as  they  are  born  is  extremely  repre¬ 
hensible.  No  sooner  is  the  infant  washed  and  dressed,  than, 
in  quite  too  many  instances,  the  nurse  is  ready — with  her 
spoon  in  hand,  and  with  her  cup  of  gruel,  pulverized  cracker, 
or  some  other  equally  injurious  preparation — to  fill  its  stom¬ 
ach  to  the  utmost  of  its  capacity.  This  process  of  stuffing 
is  often  continued  with  a  ruinous  degree  of  diligence  and 
perseverance,  placing  the  new-comer  in  a  most  pitiable  con¬ 
dition.  Being  incapable  of  making  known  its  wants  by 
words,  its  screams  of  distress,  occasioned  by  the  colic  and 
griping  thus  induced,  are  taken  either  as  manifestations  of 
hunger — and,  to  appease  this,  the  stomach  is  constantly 
kept  in  a  state  of  distension  by  food — or  of  griping,  to  re¬ 
lieve  which,  and  ‘  to  enable  the  little  fellow  to  throw  the 
wind  off  from  his  stomach,’  recourse  is  had  to  catmint  tea, 
aniseseed  tea,  Godfrey’s  cordial,  soothing  syrup,  paregoric, 
or  some  other  palliative  or  nostrum,  by  which  another  source 
of  gastric  derangement  and  indigestion  is  brought  into  ope¬ 
ration.  Thus,  between  the  two,  the  helpless  babe  has  no 
chance  of  escaping  from  the  torments  and  ruinous  conse¬ 
quences  of  its  unfortunate  condition.” 

As  with  the  adult,  so  with  the  child  ;  wrong  food,  in  wrong 
quantities,  at  wrong  intervals,  has  much  to  do  with  its  sick¬ 
ness  and  premature  death.  At  first  affecting  the  stomach, 
it  causes  acidity,  flatulency,  vomiting,  diarrhoea  and  emaci¬ 
ation.  If  the  over-feeding  and  wrong  feeding  is  kept  up, 
there  usually  results,  from  the  irritation  thus  kept  up  in  the 
stomach,  chronic  and  unmanageable  diarrhoea,  slow  fever, 
chronic  affection  of  the  liver,  epilepsy,  dropsy  of  the  brain, 
convulsions,  and  other  dangerous  and  fatal  maladies. 

“It  not  unfrequently  happens  that  the  digestive  functions 
are,  in  the  brief  period  that  intervenes  between  the  birth  of 
the  infant  and  the  secretion  of  the  mother’s  milk,  so  de- 


256 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE, . 


ranged  and  impaired,  that  even  the  wholesome  and  conge¬ 
nial  fluid  furnished  by  the  maternal  breasts  will  not  be  easily 
digested.  Nature  herself  points  out  the  impropriety  of  this 
practice  of  feeding  new-born  infants  by  withholding  the 
nourishment  which  she  provides  until  many  hours  after 
birth.” 

Perhaps  I  shall  not  find  a  more  appropriate  place  than 
this  to  speak  of  the  pernicious  practice  of  feeding  children, 
when  just  born,  with  certain  articles  (some  of  which  are  too 
disgusting  to  be  even  named)  with  the  view  of  purging  off 
the  contents  of  the  bowels,  which  is  called  meconium ,  and 
certain  other  articles  to  prevent  the  red  gum  or  the  jaundice, 
just  as  though  Nature  did  not  provide  for  the  proper  care  of 
the  young.  I  pray  you,  suffer  nothing  of  the  kind  to  go 
into  the  mouth  of  your  infant  child. 

“  It  is  very  well,  immediately  after  the  child  has  been 
Avashed  and  dressed,  to  feed  it  with  two  or  three  tea-spoonfuls 
of  cool  water.  This  operates  to  cleanse  the  mouth  and  pre¬ 
vent  it  from  becoming  sore,  as  babes’  mouths  are  somewhat 
apt  to  do  if  this  is  neglected  ;  and  on  this  account  it  should 
be  repeated  every  morning.  In  cases  where  the  child  seems 
hungry,  it  appears  to  satisfy  it  as  well  as  anything  that  can 
be  given. 

“  If  this  is  done,  children  will  most  commonly  lie  quiet  for 
an  hour  or  two,  or  at  least  till  the  mother  has  become  so  far 
rested  as  to  be  able  to  have  her  babe  applied  to  the  breast. 
This  may  be  done,  if  it  is  wakeful  and  disposed  to  nurse,  as 
soon  as  she  feels  able  ;  but  if  the  child  is  disposed  to  lie 
quietly,  either  sleeping  or  waking,  it  may  be  well  to  let  it 
lie  in  some  warm  place,  as  in  the  nurse’s  lap,  or,  better  still, 
close  by  its  mother’s  side. 

“  In  the  course  of  a  few  hours,  probably,  the  child  will 
manifest  some  disposition  to  nurse,  and  in  that  case  it  should 
be  put  to  the  breast  and  allowed  to  draw  as  much  as  it 
pleases  ;  but  in  case  it  lies  quietly,  and  shows  no  such  dis¬ 
position,  you  should,  by  all  means,  let  it  lie,  and  not  disturb 


MANAGEMENT  AFTER  DELIVERY.  257 


it,  or  be  in  the  least  alarmed  on  this  account.  I  have  known 
lambs  to  run  about  and  be  quite  active  for  two,  three,  or 
four  of  the  first  days  of  their  lives,  without  receiving  any¬ 
thing  into  their  stomachs ;  and  you  may  rest  assured  that, 
if  your  child  lies  quietly  by  your  side,  breathing  easily,  and 
sleeping  or  not  sleeping,  it  is  doing  well,  and  should  not  be 
disturbed  till  it  manifests  some  uneasiness  or  a  disposition  to 
nurse.  If  well,  it  will  certainly  do  so  in  the  course  of  twenty- 
four  hours. 

“  Do  not  let  the  desire  to  see  his  bright  eyes  lead  you  to 
disturb  his  quiet  slumbers,  nor  your  desire  to  see  him  mani¬ 
fest  his  uncommon  brightness  get  the  better  of  your  sober 
judgment.  Let  him  rest.  When  he  wakes  nurse  him, 
change  any  of  his  clothing  that  may  require  it,  and  let  him 
sleep. 

“  Babes  treated  in  this  way  will  usually  sleep  a  great  part 
of  the  time  for  several  of  the  first  weeks  of  their  lives.  No 
fears  should  be  entertained  in  regard  to  the  health  of  a  new¬ 
born  babe  so  long  as  it  rests  quietly ;  and  it  should  not  be 
disturbed,  as  is  too  often  done  through  mistaken  kindness, 
or  to  gratify  the  curiosity  or  any  other  feelings  of  the  mother 
or  others.” 

It  is  generally  supposed  that  the  child  must  take  some¬ 
thing  to  purge  off  the  contents  of  the  bowels,  called  meco¬ 
nium — a  tenacious,  semi-fluid  substance,  of  a  dark  color, 
which,  if  not  carried  off  within  a  few  days  after  birth,  may 
become  a  source  of  irritation  ;  but  it  should  be  remembered 
that  Nature  has  provided  for  this  want. 

“The  fluid  secreted  in  the  mother’s  breasts  before  the 
birth  of  the  child,  is  as  different  from  the  milk  that  is  fur¬ 
nished  by  them  afterward,  as  the  contents  of  the  child’s 
bowels  are  from  that  found  in  them  after  it  has  begun  to 
nurse,  and  is  exactly  fitted  for  the  purpose  of  purging  it 
off. 

“  If  the  child  is  put  to  the  breasts  as  soon  as  he  seems  dis¬ 
posed  to  nurse,  he  will  obtain  enough  of  this  fluid,  which  is 

17 


258  THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 

technically  called  cole  strum,  even  when  the  mother  supposes 
there  is  nothing  there.  I  repeat,  even  in  this  case  he  will, 
in  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  at  least,  get  enough  to  meet  the  ne¬ 
cessities  of  the  case,  and  the  meconium  will  be  purged  off 
by  the  colestrum  without  occasioning  any  colic,  griping,  or 
other  unpleasant  symptoms.  It  will  not  act  like  physic, 
producing  a  rapid  succession  of  stools  ;  but  more  slowly, 
and  in  the  course  of  two  or  three  days  the  work  will  be 
done,  and  done  as  it  should  be. 

“  If  the  mother  is  able  to  nurse  her  child,  nothing  should 
be  allowed  to  enter  its  mouth,  for  the  first  few  days  at  least, 
except  the  cool  water  that  I  have  already  spoken  of,  and 
what  it  gets  from  her.” 

How  oft£n  should  a  child  be  nursed,  is  a  question  of  some 
importance.  Some  advocate  every  four  hours  ;  others, 
again,  three  hours  between  the  times  of  nursing.  Either 
will  do.  It  is  not  so  much  the  observance  of  a  certain  num¬ 
ber  of  hours  between  the  periods  as  in  the  regularity  in 
feeding.  To  give  the  child  the  breast  every  hour  one  day 
in  feeding,  and  then  perhaps  the  next  the  mother  to  absent 
herself  for  many  hours,  is  certainly  not  a  good  practice.  By 
endeavoring  to  accustom  and  train  the  infant,  as  far  as  pos¬ 
sible,  to  regular  periods  for  feeding,  and  all  other  natural  op¬ 
erations,  much  of  the  trouble  otherwise  attendant  upon  the 
nursery  may  be  avoided,  and  its  quiet  much  less  frequently 
disturbed. 

Healthy  infants  can  be  habituated  to  sleep  through  the 
night  without  waking  to  nurse  during  the  whole  time.  This 
should  be  done  whenever  it  is  possible,  for  it  is  a  bad  prac¬ 
tice  to  allow  the  child  to  take  the  breasts  during  the  night¬ 
time. 

“  If  the  infant  is  encouraged  to  start  up  at  any  time  of 
the  day  or  night  and  demand  the  breast,  or  if  the  latter  is 
constantly  offered  to  it  as  a  means  of  soothing  its  cries, 
whether  it  be  hungry  or  not,  perpetual  restlessness  and  dis¬ 
content  must  be  the  result ;  and  these  once  established  as  a 


MANAGEMENT  AFTER  DELIVERY, \  259 


habit,  the  mother’s  peace  and  enjoyment,  and  the  child’s 
health  and  welfare,  are  sure  to  be  sacrificed. 

“  The  infant  may  be  quieted  for  the  moment  in  this  way, 
but  it  will  be  at  the  expense  of  ten-fold  trouble  and  disap¬ 
pointment  at  a  future  time. 

“  By  suitable  care,  almost  any  child  may  be  taught  to  re¬ 
quire  food  only  at  something  like  stated  intervals,  and  the 
danger  of  over-distension  of  the  stomach  may  thus  in  a 
great  measure  be  avoided. 

“  Care  should  be  taken  to  avoid  provoking  the  infant  to 

take  the  breast,  in  order  to  appease  restlessness  that  may  arise 

# 

from  any  cause  except  hunger.  It  is  surprising  how  soon, 
by  a  neglect  of  this  rule,  a  morbid  appetite  is  created. 

“  It  is  too  often  the  custom  of  mothers  and  nurses  to 
take  it  for  granted  that  because  the  child  cries,  that  it  is  hun¬ 
gry,  and  then  to  force  it  to  take  the  breast ;  or,  when  fretful 
from  any  cause,  to  appease  it  by  the  same  means.  In  this 
way  a  quiet  is  often  produced,  through  the  apoplectic  state 
of  the  stomach,  induced  by  this  over-feeding;  but,  as  I  "have 
already  intimated,  it  is  at  the  expense  of  the  healthy  tone  of 
the  stomach,  and,  when  often  repeated,  can  not  fail  to  pro¬ 
duce  a  disordered  action  of  the  digestive  organs,  and  thus 
do  permanent  harm.” 

Mothers  whose  desire  it  is  to  have  children  free  from  sick¬ 
ness,  and  to  grow  up  to  adult  life,  should  avoid  and  shun  all 
manner  of  patent  nostrums — such  as  paregoric,  cordials, 
soothing  syrups,  etc.,  all  of  which  contain  opium,  and  all  of 
which,  in  their  use,  are  destructive  to  the  nervous  system 
and  digestive  organs  of  the  child,  and  seriously  affect  the 
child’s  future  health,  well-being,  happiness  and  usefulness 
through  life.  And  especially  should  those  vile,  starchy 
compounds  called  pap,  panada,  and  the  like,  be  positively 
prohibited. 

Wet-Nurse. — When  circumstances  are  present  which 
prevent  the  mother  from  suckling  her  infant,  a  wet-nurse  is 


26o 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


the  best  substitute,  provided  she  be  healthy  and  have  a  good 
supply  of  milk. 

In  the  selection  of  a  wet-nurse  great  care  should  be  taken. 
She  should  be  young,  perfectly  healthy,  of  a  pleasant,  cheer¬ 
ful  disposition  and  even  temper,  and  free  from  all  deformi¬ 
ties — such  as  squinting,  stuttering,  and  the  like.  She  should 
have  two  good  breasts  of  milk,  and  the  age  of  her  child 
should  be  near  that  of  the  one  she  Is  to  nurse,  as  the  milk 
changes  so  during  the  first  month  that  the  milk  of  a  nurse 
with  a  child  six  months  old  would  not  be  proper  food  for  a 
child  just  born. 

In  the  feeding  of  the  child  the  utmost  vigilance  should  be 
exercised  by  the  mother,  as  all  sorts  of  deceptions  are  prac¬ 
ticed  by  professional  wet-nurses. 

“At  one  time  the  stomach  of  the  child  is  engorged  to  its 
greatest  extent,  in  order  that  the  nurse  may  have  the  time 
to  herself,  and  then  all  nourishment  is  withheld  for  an  un¬ 
reasonable  period  for  the  same  reason ;  laudanum  and  pare¬ 
goric  are  administered  clandestinely  that  the  child  may  not 
disturb  her  rest,  and  all  sorts  of  deceptions,  which  require 
the  constant  watchfulness  of  the  mother  to  detect  and  pre¬ 
vent. 

“  The  diet  of  the  nurse  should  be  the  same  as  for  any  per¬ 
son  in  good  health  ;  the  food  should  be  plain,  abundant,  and 
taken  only  at  the  regular  hours.  It  is  not  a  fact  that  a  wo¬ 
man  while  nursing  requires  a  large  amount  of  rich  food,  or 
that  she  should  eat  before  going  to  bed  ;  all  these  irregular¬ 
ities  tend  to  destroy  the  health,  which,  of  course,  injures  the 
milk.  There  are  no  women  with  breasts  better  filled  with 
milk  than  the  peasant  women,  who  subsist  on  food  of  the 
very  simplest  kind.  The  practice  of  allowing  nurses  por¬ 
ter,  ale,  or  spirits  of  any  kind,  while  nursing,  is  always  un¬ 
necessary  ;  a  healthy  nurse  requires  nothing  of  the  kind,  and 
no  other  should  be  engaged. 

“  The  nurse  should  be  required  to  exercise  in  the  open  air 
for  some  time  each  day,  and  to  take  an  entire  bath  as  often 
as  twice  during  the  week.” 


MANAGEMENT  AFTER  DELIVERY.  261 


Artificial  Feeding. — Failing  a  wet-nurse,  artificial 
feeding,  or  bringing  the  child  up  by  hand,  as  it  is  called,  is 
the  last  resort. 

“  The  kinds  of  food  recommended  for  the  diets  of  infants 
are  very  numerous,  but  nothing  is  better  than  pure  cow’s 
milk  ;  it  must  be  perfectly  sweet,  and,  if  possible,  always 
from  the  same  cow.  There  is  a  great  difference  in  the  milk 
of  different  cows,  though  fed  upon  the  same  food,  and  a 
mixture  of  the  milk  of  several  cows,  or  a  continual  change 
from  one  to  another,  is  much  less  likely  to  agree  with  the  in¬ 
fant  than  the  milk  from  the  same  cow  uninterruptedly.  It 
is  desirable  that  the  nutriment  provided  for  the  infant  should 
approach  as  near  as  possible  to  the  natural  food,  and  for  the 
child  at  birth  equal  pacts  of  milk  and  water,  with  a  little 
white  sugar,  warmed  to  the  temperature  of  ninety-eight  de¬ 
grees  ;  this  approaches  very  near  to  the  natural  aliment,  and 
is  the  only  food  required  for  the  first  eight  or  ten  months  ; 
the  water  may  be  gradually  decreased,  until  the  end  of  the 
seventh  month,  at  which  time  the  pure  milk  may  be  given. 
In  cases  where  the  milk  disagrees  with  the  child,  cream  and 
water  will  be  found  an  excellent  substitute  ;  cream  is  lighter 
than  milk,  it  is  easily  digested,  and  being  more  nutritious,  a 
smaller  quantity  may  be  given.  In  many  cases  the  fault  is 
not  so  much  with  the  food  as  in  the  way  in  which  it  is  given, 
and  in  many  cases  where  it  is  thought  to  disagree  with  the 
infant,  if  it  were  given  in  smaller  quantities,  and  at  longer 
intervals,  with  perfect  rest  for  half  an  hour  after  eating,  the 
trouble  would  be  done  away  with. 

‘'The  food  should  be  taken  into  the  stomach  slowly;  and 
here  again  we  should  imitate  Nature,  and  allow  the  child  to 
suck  its  nourishment  from  a  bottle,  instead  of  being  fed  with 
a  spoon.  In  the  act  of  sucking  the  food  is  mixed  with  the 
saliva,  which  is  an  assistant  to  digestion,  and  which  the  di¬ 
gestive  organs  are  deprived  of,  to  a  great  extent,  if  any  other 
mode  of  feeding  be  adopted. 

“  A  variety  of  contrivances  have  been  recommended  for 


262 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


the  administration  of  food  to  infants  ;  any  glass  bottle  of  a 
convenient  shape  and  size,  with  a  few  folds  of  fine,  soft  linen 
pierced  with  a  small  hole,  and  adapted  to  the  mouth  in  the 
form  of  a  nipple,  will  answer  every  purpose.  Particular  at¬ 
tention  must  be  paid  to  keeping  the  bottle  perfectly  clean  ; 
it  should  never  be  filled  without  being  previously  subjected 
to  a  thorough  washing  of  both  bottle  and  nipple  in  hot  wa¬ 
ter.  It  will  be  well  to  provide  two  bottles,  that  one  may  al¬ 
ways  be  in  a  condition  for  immediate  use ;  the  bottle  should 
always  be  glass,  its  transparency  enabling  the  mother  the 
more  readily  to  detect  any  uncleanliness.” 

The  nipple-sheath,  made  of  rubber,  as  well  as  rubber 
toys,  should  be  kept  out  of  the  reach  of  infants,  for  the  rea¬ 
son  that  in  the  manufacture  of  rubber  large  quantities  of 
white  lead  are  used.  In  •  the  action  of  biting  or  sucking 
through  the  rubber  toy  or  nipple,  the  white  lead  is  in  a 
measure  disengaged  and  absorbed  into  the  child’s  organism, 
where  it  injures  the  bones,  causing  curvature  of  the  spine, 
bad  teeth,  rickets,  etc.,  and  otherwise  affecting  more  or  less 
the  general  health  of  the  child. 

Weaning. — The  growth  and  protrusion  of  the  teeth  is  a 
certain  index  of  the  development  of  the  child’s  digestive  or¬ 
gans,  and  indicates  with  great  exactness  that  a  change  of 
food  is  required,  and  that  the  digestive  organs  are  in  a  con¬ 
dition  to  dispose  of  the  simple  varieties  of  nutriment  upon 
which  the  child  will  now  be  required  to  subsist.  This  usu¬ 
ally  happens  from  the  tenth  to  the  fourteenth  month,  and  if 
the  child  has  been  accustomed  gradually  to  other  nutriment, 
weaning  will  in  most  cases  be  attended  with  little  or  no  in¬ 
convenience.  This  change  should  be  very  gradual,  and 
commence  soon  after  the  protrusion  of  the  two  first  teeth. 

It  is  generally  recommended  in  books  and  by  physicians 
to  feed  the  infant,  at  this  time  of  weaning  and  after,  on  pre¬ 
parations  of  arrowroot,  pulverized  cracker,  corn-starch,  etc. 
— articles  that  possess  little  or  no  nutriment,  and  if  there  was 


MANAGEMENT  AFTER  DELIVERY.  2 63 


no  milk  given  along  with  such  food  the  child  would  after  a 
time  starve.  It  has  been  proven  by  physiologists  that  ar¬ 
ticles  of  diet  made  from  white  flour  will  not  in  themselves 
support  life.  The  experiment  has  been  tried  on  dogs,  one 
dog  being  fed  exclusively  on  bread  made  from  superfine 
white  flour,  and  the  other  on  bread  made  from  the  whole 
grain  (Graham  flour.)  At  the  end  of  thirty-five  days  the 
first  dog  was  dead,  having  gradually  died  of  starvation, 
while  the  dog  fed  on  unbolted  wheat  bread  was  strong  and 
healthy.  When  it  is  understood  that  three  out  of  every  five 
children  fail  to  reach  their  tenth  year,  I  think  a  radical 
change  is  demanded,  not  only  in  the  department  of  diet  of 
infants,  but  also  in  clothing,  pure  air,  etc. 

As  the  period  of  weaning  approaches,  small  portions  of 
pure  and  fresh  milk,  thickened  with  soft-boiled  rice,  apple¬ 
sauce,  slightly  sweetened,  and  fresh  cream,  or  a  thin  gruel 
made  from  finely  ground  unbolted  wheat  flour,  should  be  al¬ 
lowed  the  child  two  or  three  times  a  day. 

It  is  desirable  that  the  gradual  increase  in  the  quantity 
should  keep  pace  with  the  more  or  less  rapid  appearance  of 
the  teeth,  so  that  after  the  first  eight  teeth  have  made  their 
exit  from  the  gums,  the  child  shall  have  been,  as  it  were,  in¬ 
sensibly  weaned.  By  this  course  of  management  the  in¬ 
fant’s  stomach  will  be  gradually  accustomed  to  a  more  sub¬ 
stantial  diet,  and  will  be  sufficiently  prepared,  when  the 
proper  time  of  weaning  arrives,  to  admit  of  an  exclusively 
artificial  aliment,  with  but  little,  if  any,  risk  of  injurious  con¬ 
sequences. 

After  weaning,  the  staple  article  of  diet  for  the  child 
should  be  made  from  unbolted,  well-cleaned  and  finely- 
ground  wheat,  for  this  grain  contains  all  the  constituents  de¬ 
manded  by  the  system  of  a  growing  child  for  nourishment — 
the  bone,  muscle,  and  nerve-making  properties.  The  best 
and  simplest  food  made  from  unbolted  flour  is  Graham  pud¬ 
ding,  the  mode  of  making  which  is  as  follows  : 

“  Stir  slowly  into  fast-boiling  water,  sprinkled  from  the 


264 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


hand,  sufficient  Graham  flour  to  make  a  thin  pudding.  Let 
it  boil  five  or  ten  minutes  and  it  is  done.  If  set  away  from 
the  fire  for  a  few  minutes  before  taking  up,  it  will  cleave  read¬ 
ily  from  the  kettle,  leaving  it  more  easy  to  be  washed.  Very 
much  depends  on  the  manner  of  making,  as  from  the  same 
materials  a  most  delicious  dish  may  be  made,  or  one  not  fit 
to  eat. 

“  The  pudding  left  from  one  meal  is  allowed  to  cool  in  the 
table  pudding-dish,  and  inverted  on  a  platter  of  the  same 
form  for  the  next  meal.  Any  of  this  that  may  be  left  can 
be  dissolved  in  the  water  in  which  the  next  pudding  is  to  be 
made,  and  so  made  over ;  or  a  better  way  is  to  brown  slices 
of  it  on  a  griddle.” 

Unfermented  Graham  bread,  icorn  bread,  and  dishes 
made  from  unbolted  wheat,  corn  and  oatmeal,  plainly,  sim¬ 
ply  and  palatably  cooked ;  apples,  and  all  other  fruit  in 
season,  and  milk,  are  the  only  articles  from  which  a  diet 
should  be  selected  for  the  child,  and,  for  that  matter  for 
the  adult  whose  desire  is  for  a  pure  and  healthy  life. 

Care  should  be  taken  that  suckling  is  continued  no  longer 
than  is  consistent  with  the  welfare  of  either  mother  or  child. 
Says  Dr.  Eberle  : 

“  To  the  mother,  the  effects  of  unduly  protracted  lac¬ 
tation  are  sometimes  extremely  pernicious.  We  not  un- 
frequently  see  women  frail,  debilitated,  and  constantly  tor¬ 
mented  with  dyspeptic  and  nervous  affections,  suckling 
their  infants  for  eighteen  or  twenty  months,  without  sus¬ 
pecting  that  their  ill  health  is  the  result  of  exhaustion  from 
the  constant  drain  of  the  nutritious  element  of  the  blood, 
which  is  kept  up  by  suckling.  The  mother  is  not  the  only 
sufferer  from  this  habit  of  protracted  lactation.  After 
the  proper  period  for  weaning  the  infant,  there  is  a  decided 
change  takes  place  in  the  milk  ;  it  not  only  diminishes  in 
quantity,  but  deteriorates  in  quality,  and  becomes  more  and 
more  unwholesome  in  its  character  in  proportion  as  lactation 
is  protracted.  Let  me  say  here  to  those  mothers  who  think 


MANAGEMENT  AFTER  DELIVERY.  265 


to  lessen  the  supposed  dangers  of  the  second  summer  by 
suckling  the  child  through  that  period,  that  they  are  actu¬ 
ally  increasing  the  danger  by  allowing  the  infant  food  from 
which  it  derives  but  little  nutriment,  and  which  is  decidedly 
unwholesome.  I  have  been  particular  to  point  out  the  evils 
of  this  habit,  as  it  is  a  very  common  one  in  our  country.” 

The  best  months  in  the  year  for  weaning  are  the 
months  of  March,  April  and  May,  September,  October,  and 
November. 


CHAPTER  XXL 


THE  PERIOD  OF  NURSING  INFLUENCE. 


ENIUS,  to  be  successfully 
transmitted  to  the  child,  must 
be  conceived  in  the  period  of 
preparation,  exercised  in  the 
period  of  gestation,  and  the 
exercise  continued  during  the 
whole  period  of  nursing.  In 
the  period  of  preparation  the 
character  of  the  child,  in  the 
rough,  is  originated  ;  in  ante¬ 
natal  life  this  character  is  de¬ 
veloped  ;  while  during  the 
nursing  period  its  character  is 
perfected  and  established. 

The  mother’s  influence  du¬ 
ring  the  time  of  nursing,  therefore,  is  not  one  lightly  to  be 
estimated  ;  and  the  following  expressed  thoughts  in  regard 
to  its  observance  should  be  carefully  noted  and  followed  by 
the  mother  who  has  obeyed  the  previous  directions  in  regard 
to  rearing  beautiful,  healthy  and  talented  children. 

To  the  mother  who,  through  some  physical  abnormal 
quality,  cannot  nurse  her  child,  or  who,  through  some  ab¬ 
normal  mental  characteristics,  will  not  nurse  her  child,  this 
chapter  does  not,  of  course,  apply. 

To  the  first,  who,  notwithstanding  a  just  observance  of 


266 


PERIOD  OF  NURSING  INFLUENCE.  267 


right  rules  for  living  and  a  careful  trial  of  remedial  measures, 
is  unable  to  nurse  her  child,  I  have  naught  to  say ;  but  to 
the  mother  who  can,  but  will  not,  nurse  her  child,  it  seems 
to  me  that  such  a  woman  must  have  some  great  abnormal 
quality  of  soul  that  lowers  her  vastly  in  the  scale  of  human 
kind.  This  great  duty,  this  sacred  trust,  should  rest  with 
the  mother  alone,  and  she  who  commits  the  suckling  of  her 
child  to  another,  while  her  own  breasts  are  ready  to  furnish 
an  ample  supply  of  milk,  does  not,  cannot,  possess  the  qual¬ 
ities  of  a  mother  or  Christian. 

It  is  indeed  a  most  extraordinary  circumstance  that  a  duty 
which  is  so  strongly  enforced  by  the  commands  of  Nature, 
and  which  is  connected  with  so  many  delightful  and  hallowed 
sentiments  of  the  maternal  heart,  should  ever  be  voluntarily 
relinquished  ;  and  it  is  never  done  without  subjecting  both 
mother  and  child  to  great  liability  to  injurious  conse¬ 
quences. 

There  is  no  period  of  woman’s  life  in  which  she  has  such 
great  enjoyment,  such  perfect  physical  health,  as  when  she 
is  nursing  the  offspring  of  her  own  blood. 

When  a  mother,  through  causes  avoidable  or  unavoidable, 
allows  her  child  to  nurse  at  the  breast  of  a  stranger,  she 
loses  the  chance  of  permanently  fixing  and  completing  the 
character  of  the  infant,  and  in  a  great  measure  the  child 
draws  from  the  breast  of  the  strange  mother  mental  and 
physical  characteristics  that  may  be  undesirable. 

The  importance  of  the  mother’s  influence  during  the  pe¬ 
riod  of  nursing  is  greatly  under-estimated,  and  by  very 
many  not  even  believed  in.  When  it  is  understood  that  the 
food  the  mother  daily  uses  goes  to  furnish  the  food  of  the 
infant,  and  that,  in  being  converted  into  milk  in  the  mam¬ 
mary  glands,  is  influenced  not  only  by  the  quality  and  quan¬ 
tity  of  the  food  eaten,  but  also  by  the  mental  state  of  the 
mother  during  and  immediately  preceding  its  secretion,  and 
that  this  influence  is  carried  in  the  milk  directly  to  the  child’s 
organism,  and  affects  in  a  smaller  or  greater  measure  the 


268 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


child’s  mental  and  physical  character,  it  must  be  allowed,  by 
all  candid,  thinking  mothers,  that  its  importance  cannot  pos¬ 
sibly  be  over-estimated. 

I  have  known  an  instance  in  which  a  mother,  after  a  vio¬ 
lent  altercation  with  a  neighbor,  immediately  after  gave  suck 
to  her  infant.  The  child  had  not  been  at  the  breast  but  a 
moment  when  it  went  into  violent  convulsions,  and  for  a  time 
it  had  every  appearance  of  dying.  If  it  had  died,  there 
need  have  been  no  great  surprise  expressed  thereat.  It  is 
well  known  that  men  have  died  in  a  passion,  and  the  same 
greatly  unbalanced  and  disorded  state  of  the  nervous  system 
of  the  mother,  acquired  during  a  “  fit  of  passion,”  through 
the  medium  of  her  milk,  transmitted  to  the  delicate  organ¬ 
ism  of  the  child, -would  bring  on  premature  death,  or  greatly 
help  to  do  so. 

So,  in  a  smaller  or  greater  measure,  the  mother’s  every¬ 
day  state  of  mind  and  body  is  carried  to  and  impressed  on 
the  mind  and  body  of  her  infant.  If  the  mother,  during  the 
two  previous  periods  of  introductory  and  gestative  influence, 
be  of  a  morose,  gloomy,  fault-finding  disposition,  and  she 
continues  the  exercise  of  these  abnormal  characteristics  du¬ 
ring  the  period  of  nursing,  she  will,  without  the  least  doubt 
of  the  fact,  impress  the  like  undesirable  qualities  of  charac¬ 
ter  on  her  child,  and  every  day’s  suckling,  up  to  the  time  of 
weaning,  will  more  fully  and  perfectly  establish  them. 

And  so  of  grief  and  sorrow,  pain  and  anguish,  anxiety 
and  fear,  or  any  other  of  the  passions  that  in  their  exercise 
lower  and  unbalance  the  nervous  force. 

In  the  same  way  that  the  mother’s  habits  of  thought  af¬ 
fect  the  child’s  character,  so  does  the  food  she  eats  affect  the 
child’s  physical  growth  and.  health,  and,  in  a  close  manner, 
its  mental  characteristics.  Eating  indigestible  articles  of 
diet  will  cause  in  the  child  a  disturbed  state  of  the  bowels — 
colic,  griping,  intestinal  fever,  etc.  ;  or  drinking  ale,  beer, 
wine,  whisky,  or  that  filthy  mess  called  porter — so  often  ad¬ 
vised  for  nursing  mothers,  to  “  strengthen  them”  (!) — will 


PERIOD  OF  NURSING  INFLUENCE,  269 


cause  in  the  child  not  only  a  predisposition  to  disease,  but 
also  a  tendency  to  be  a  drunkard. 

The  use  of  spirituous  and  fermented  drinks  is  at  all  times 
improper,  but  especially  so  during  the  nursing  period.  When 
given  to  increase  the  milk  they  may  do  so,  but  it  is  always 
at  the  expense  of  its  quality.  The  child  may  seem  to  thrive 
nicely  for  a  time,  but  eventually  it  will  be  in  great  danger  of 
being  severely  afflicted  with  some  form  of  cutaneous  dis¬ 
ease,  or  something  worse,  before  it  is  two  years  old.  Says 
Dr.  Tracy : 

“  One  of  the  worst  cases  I  ever  saw  was  caused  in  this 
way.  The  mother  drank  porter  and  ale,  one  or  both  freely, 
while  nursing ;  the  child  grew  very  fast  and  very  fat,  but 
such  a  sight  as  it  after  awhile  presented,  I  never  wish  to  see 
again.” 

The  mother  of  advanced  ideas,  who  has  faithfully  followed 
the  directions  to  be  observed  during  the  periods  of  prepara¬ 
tion  and  gestation,  and  whose  desire  it  is  to  continue  faith¬ 
fully  to  the  end,  will,  during  the  period  of  nursing,  closely 
adhere  to  the  plan  of  life  and  habits  of  thought  decided  on 
in  the  commencement. 

To  this  end,  she  must  be  as  careful  as  ever,  if  not  more 
so,  in  the  food  eaten.  Only  the  very  plainest  and  simplest 
food  should  be  used,  and  eaten  at  regular  intervals.  She 
should,  as  she  values  her  own  peace  and  ease,  and  her  child’s 
health  and  happiness,  exercise  all  due  care  against  evils  of 
this  kind,  for  any  momentary  gratification  of  her  appetite 
will  be  dearly  paid  for  by  the  distress  and,  if  no  more,  tem¬ 
porary  illness  of  her  babe. 

Especially  during  this  period  of  nursing  should  the  mother 
exercise  the  qualities  (decided  on  from  the  beginning)  that 
in  their  transmitted  action  will  constitute  genius.  The  nine 
or  twelve  months  of  nursing  will  be  the  mother’s  last  chance 
to  directly  perfect  and  establish  the  character  of  the  child, 
and  in  no  wise  should  it  be  slighted.  The  main  require¬ 
ments  to  be  observed  in  this  direction  are  but  a  repetition  of 


2JO 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


those  given  in  Chapters  XIII.  and  XVI.,  with  the  additional 
rule  that  they  be  observed  immediately  preceding  each  time 
the  child  is  given  the  breast. 

After  an  intense  application  of  the  brain-power  in  the  di¬ 
rection  required — be  it  that  of  mechanic,  author,  inventor, 
editor,  teacher,  singer,  etc. — the  mother  immediately  follow¬ 
ing  this  application  should  give  her  child  the  breast.  And 
precisely  so  in  every  department  of  thought  or  action  in¬ 
tended  for  the  child’s  future  existence,  immediately  follow¬ 
ing  the  persistent,  active  effort  in  trying,  the  child  should  be 
given  the  breast.  These  efforts  of  the  mother  should  be  so 
timed  as  to  precede  the  child’s  regular  time  for  feeding ;  for 
it  is  a  requirement  in  the  right  development  of  the  child, 
that  order  in  all  things — feeding,  bathing,  sleeping,  etc. — be 
closely  observed.  The  philosophy  of  this  requirement  is, 
that  the  active  mental  exercise  of  any  organ  or  set  of  or¬ 
gans  of  the  mother,  impresses  the  qualities  exercised  on  the 
milk  globules  being  secreted  in  her  mammary  glands  ;  for  it 

is  with  the  milk  as  with  the  blood  from  which  it  is  secreted 
% 

— every  globule  takes  on  and  represents  the  character  of  the 
mother  who  manufactured  it.  These  milk  globules — having, 
through  the  rightly-directed,  active  mental  and  physical  ex¬ 
ercise  of  the  mother,  taken  on  a  positive  character  in  har¬ 
mony  with  that  of  the  mother — are  through  suckling  carried 
to  the  child’s  organism,  where  it,  of  course,  cannot  possibly 
do  otherwise  than  reproduce  its  like.  In  this  way  the  quality 
desired  to  be  reproduced  in  the  child  is  perfected  and  estab¬ 
lished — but  only  perfected  and  established,  for  during  the 
periods  of  preparation  and  gestation  they  should  be  origi¬ 
nated  and  developed. 

During  this  period — as  during  the  two  former  periods — 
the  mother  and  child  should  live  much  in  the  open  air.  She 
should  continue  to  take  daily  exercise  ;  never  omit  the  daily- 
sponge,  air  and  sun-bath  ;  wear  comfortable  and  loose  cloth¬ 
ing  ;  exercise  daily  and  hourly  the  bright,  happy  and  joyous 
side  of  her  nature  ;  ever  surround  herself  with  pleasant  and 


PERIOD  OF  NURSING  INFLUENCE .  271 


beautiful  associations ;  breathe  pure  air ;  drink  only  pure 
water ;  eat  principally  ripe  fruits,  fresh  vegetables,  unleav¬ 
ened  bread  made  from  unbolted  wheat,  etc.,  and,  in  com¬ 
pany  with  her  husband,  cultivate  the  department  of  thought 
that  is  intended  for  the  child’s  pursuit  in  life — especially 
exercising  it  in  positive  earnestness  just  before  the  time 
for  giving  her  child  the  breast. 

During  this  period — as  during  the  two  former  periods — 
she  should  not  use  alcoholic  liquors  of  any  kind,  strength, 
or  quality ;  tea,  coffee,  or  chocolate  ;  pickles,  vinegar,  or 
spices  of  any  kind,  and  as  little  salt  as  is  possible  to  get 
along  with ;  sweets,  pastry,  etc.  ;  medicines,  patent  or  oth¬ 
erwise  ;  and,  above  all,  she  should  not  allow  her  husband  to 
have  sexual  acquaintance  with  her.  Succeed  in  carrying 
out,  during  these  three  periods  of  preparation  and  influence, 
a  strictly  pure,  chaste  and  continent  life,  and  you  will  have 
done  more  for  the  future  health  and  welfare  of  the  child's 
soul  and  body  than  coidd  be  done  in  any  other  way,  time  or 
manner . 

During  the  nursing  period  of  the  child’s  life  feed  it  regu¬ 
larly  ;  keep  its  extremities  warm  and  comfortable  ;  in  clear 
weather  give  it  all  the  out-door  sunshine  that  can  be  had  ; 
let  it  sleep  all  it  wants  to ;  bathe  it  daily ;  do  not,  I  pray 
you,  give  it  any  cordial,  soothing  syrup,  or  any  other  pat¬ 
ented  trash  ;  and,  when  it  comes  to  be  weaned,  let  it  be 
done  in  a  gradual  manner. 

With  the  weaning  of  the  child  I  would  fain  close  this 
chapter,  but  am  tempted  to  give  a  few  general  but  very  im¬ 
portant  directions  for  the  child’s  future  guidance. 

Up  to  the  age  of  ten  years — fifteen  would  be  better — no 
book  should  be  allowed  in  the  child’s  hands,  for  during  this 
time  the  child  should  be  allowed  simply  to  grow — sleep,  eat, 
exercise  and  grow — no  more,  no  less. 

All  indications  of  precocity  and  “  smartness”  should  be 
suppressed,  and  it  should  be  made  to  exercise  only  the. 
physical,  keeping  dormant  the  mental  and  spiritual  depart¬ 
ments  of  its  nature. 


272 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


Only  the  plainest  and  simplest  food,  free  from  sugar, 
spices,  candies,  etc.,  should  be  allowed  it. 

No  drugs  or  patent  medicines  of  any  kind  should  be  given 
it. 

The  child  should  be  carefully  guarded  against  associates  f 
of  a  bad  or  doubtful  character. 

Girls  and  boys,  during  this  time,  should  be  dressed  pre¬ 
cisely  alike,  and  in  every  way  treated  alike.  The  more  of  a 
xt  tom-boy”  the  girl  can  grow  into,  the  better  for  her  future 
health,  strength  and  beauty. 

The  child  should  at  all  times  be  dressed  physiologically. 

It  astonishes  me  beyond  measure  to  see  a  little  girl  having 
her  arms  and  legs  bare,  and  otherwise  gaudily  bedecked,  on 
the  streets,  led  by  her  mother,  who,  though  much  more  able 
to  withstand  atmospheric  changes,  is  dressed  from  head  to 
foot  warmly  and  comfortably.  Societies  for  the  protection 
of  animals  against  cruelty  are  good  enough  in  their  way,  but 
societies  for  the  protection  of  babies  against  cruelty  would 
be  much  more  productive  of  lasting  benefit,  at  least  to  un¬ 
grown  humanity  at  large.  It  is  not  only  a  shame,  it  is  a 
great  sin,  this  modern  style  of  half  dressing  children  that  is 
so  largely  practiced  in  so-called  “  good  society.”  Dress 
your  children,  at  all  seasons  of  the  year,  from  the  points  of 
the  toes  to  the  tips  of  the  fingers,  equally  warm  and  com¬ 
fortable,  without  band  or  constriction  of  any  kind,  and  so  al¬ 
low  them  to  grow  into  perfect  models  of  manly  strength  or 
womanly  beauty. 


PART  THIRD. 


WRONGS  RIGHTED. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


FOETICIDE. 


UT  of  the  overgrown,  abnormally 
developed  and  wrongly  directed 
amativeness  of  the  man — out  of 
the  social  bondage  and  pitiable 
slavery  of  the  woman,  there  have 
been  born  such  wrongs,  such 
miseries,  such  sufferings,  aye, 
such  murders,  as  to  lead  an  ob¬ 
serving  and  reflecting  mind  to 
wonder  why  God,  in  the  might 
of  His  wrath,  does  not,  by  an  ef¬ 
fort  of  His  omnipotent  will,  sweep 
off  from  the  face  of  this  beauti¬ 
ful  earth  the  great  multitude  of 
people  who,  knowingly  or  igno¬ 
rantly,  break  His  divine  laws. 

Out  of  the  licentiousness  of  the  man  and  bondage  of  the 
woman  there  is  developed  the  ever-present  and  ever-increas¬ 
ing  great  wrong  and  monstrous  crime  of  an  undesigned  and 
undesired  maternity — a  wrong  and  crime,  the  perpetrators 
of  which,  rather  than  be  thwarted  in  the  exercise  of  the  li¬ 
centious  of  their  nature,  commit  without  thought  of  conse¬ 
quences  here  or  hereafter,  the  crime  of  foeticide — the  killing 
of  the  foetus  while  in  the  mother’s  womb — the  murder  of  the 
unborn. 


275 


276 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


That  this  crime  is  not  only  wide-spread  on  this  great  con¬ 
tinent,  but  is  rapidly  on  the  increase,  we  have  the  testimony 
of  physicians,  whose  investigations  have  been  thorough,  and 
whose  social  standing  and  integrity  cannot  be  questioned. 

Dr.  Nathan  Allen,  of  Lowell,  has  declared  ,  in  a  paper 
read  before  a  late  meeting  of  the  American  Social  Science 
Association,  that  no  where  in  the  history  of  the  world  was 
the  practice  of  abortion  so  common  as  in  this  country  ;  and 
he  gave  expression  to  the  opinion  that,  in  New  England 
alone,  many  thousand  abortions  are  procured  annually. 

Says  Dr.  Reamy,  of  the  Ohio  State  Medical  Society : 

“  From  a  very  large  verbal  and  written  correspondence  in 
this  and  other  States,  together  with  personal  investigation 
and  facts  accumulated  *  *  #  that  we  have  become  a 

nation  of  murderers .” 

And  not  to  large  cities  alone  is  this  great  crime  confined, 
but  from  towns,  villages  and  hamlets  do  the  death  wails  of 
the  murdered  innocents  go  up  to  God  for  vengeance. 

A  noticeable  proof  that  forced  abortions  are  on  the  in¬ 
crease,  or  that  an  almost  equally  great  wrong  is  done  by  the 
prevention  of  pregnancy,  is  found  in  the  small  size  of  fami¬ 
lies.  Especially  is  this  observable  in  the  New  England 
States,  where  the  native  population  is  stationary  or  decreasing. 

In  the  paper  already  referred  to,  Dr.  Allen  says : 

“  Examining  the  number  of  deaths,  we  find  that  there  are 
absolutely  more  deaths  than  births  among  the  strictly  Amer¬ 
ican  children,  so  that,  aside  from  immigration  and  births  of 
children  of  foreign  parentage,  the  population  of  Massachu¬ 
setts  is  rapidly  decreasing.  *  *  #  The  birth-rate  in  the 

State  of  New  York  shows  the  same  fact,  that  American  fam¬ 
ilies  do  not  increase  at  all,  and  inspection  of  the  registration 
in  other  States  shows  that  the  same  remark  applies  to  all.” 
Dr.  Allen  may  well  ask :  “  What  then  is  to  be  the  state  of 
society  in  New  England  fifty  or  a  hundred  years  hence  ?” 

Says  the  Rev.  Dr.  Eddy,  in  a  late  number  of  the  Christ - 
ian  Advocate  : 


FETICIDE. 


2  77 


“  We  could  prove  that  in  one  little  village  of  one  thou¬ 
sand  inhabitants,  prominent  women  have  been  guilty  of  what 
we  will  presently  show  to  be  murder.  And  sadder  still, 
half  of  these  are  members  of  Christ’s  Church.  Yet  here, 
and  elsewhere,  where  fifteen  per  cent,  of  wives  have  the 
criminal  hardihood  to  practice  this  black  art,  there  is  a  still 
large  and  additional  per  cent,  who  indorse  and  defend  it. 
One  of  the  worst  features  of  the  case  is  the  fact  that,  if  a 
young,  pure  and  inexperienced  wife  is  shocked  by  revela¬ 
tions  made  by  hardened  abortionists,  she  is  straightway  ridi¬ 
culed  into  silence  or  argued  into  acquiescence.  The  very 
worst  feature,  however,  is,  that  young  girls,  too  young  to 
marry,  are  initiated  into  these  mysteries  of  massacre,  thor¬ 
oughly  imbued  with  a  dislike  of  children,  especially  their 
future  own,  and  are  thus  prepared  to  perpetrate  this  horrid 
villainy,  when  their  more  aged  instructors  are  gone  up  be¬ 
fore  God.  We  protest  that  it  is  pitiful.  To  fortify  these 
statements  wre  have  Dr.  Stewart’s  testimony:  ‘But  few  of 
either  sex  enter  the  marital  relations  without  full  information 
as  to  the  ways  and  means  of  destroying  the  legitimate  re¬ 
sults  of  matrimony.  Among  married  persons,  so  extensive 
has  this  practice  become,  that  people  of  high  repute  not 
only  commit  this  crime,  but  do  not  even  shun  to  speak 
boastingly  among  their  intimates  of  the  deed  and  the  means 
of  accomplishing  it.’  ” 

It  cannot  be  possible  that  the  large  class  of  women  who 
commit  the  crime  of  foeticide,  or  that  class,  still  greater  in 
number,  who  are  accessories  to  such  wrongs,  can  be  aware 
of  the  full  import  of  what  they  do.  They  cannot  know  that 
in  the  sight  of  God  and  man  the  deed  they  do  is  murder, 
and  that  at  the  Day  of  Judgment  as  murderers  they  will 
stand  before  the  throne  of  God.  Let  us  hope  that  in  doing 
these  things  it  is  because  they  know  not  what  they  do. 

Many,  to  shield  themselves  from  the  imputation  of  wrong, 
will  deny  that  the  killing  of  the  foetus  before  its  natural  time 
of  birth  is  murder.  This  is  most  easilv  decided. 


278 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


First,  as  to  what  constitutes  murder.  The  taking  away 
the  life  of  any  human  being  designedly,  expresses  in  a  gen¬ 
eral  way  the  crime  of  murder.  Now  a  great  army  of  self- 
justifiers  will  say  that  life  is  not  present  in  the  child  until 
“  quickening”  is  noticed  by  the  mother ;  while  others,  again, 
may  assert  that  life  is  not  present  until  the  first  cry  of  the 
child  announces  its  birth.  This  is  a  great  fallacy.  Says 
Beck,  in  his  “  Medical  Jurisprudence 

“  The  absurdity  of  the  principle  upon  which  these  distinc¬ 
tions  are  founded  is  of  easy  demonstration.  The  foetus,  pre¬ 
vious  to  the  time  of  quickening,  must  be  either  dead  or  liv¬ 
ing.  Now  that  it  is  not  the  former  is  most  evident  from 
neither  putrefaction  nor  decomposition  taking  place,  which 
would  be  the  consequence  of  an  extinction  of  the  vital  prin¬ 
ciple.  The  embyro,  therefore,  before  the  crisis,  must  be  in 
a  state  different  from  that  of  death,  and  that  can  be  no  other 
than  life.” 

Life  is  present  from  the  very  moment  of  conception.  There 
must  be  life  at  this  time,  else  there  could  be  no  conception 
— that  is,  there  must  be  a  germ-cell  and  a  sperm-cell  con¬ 
tained  in  each  life,  and  the  moment  these  two  elements  are 
united,  there  is  born  a  being  containing  the  elements  of  a 
soul.  At  no  other  possible  time  of  pre-natal  or  ante-natal 
life  can  the  soul  and  body  of  a  new  being  be  originated  than 
at  its  conception;  and  the  forcible  removal  of  this  being  du¬ 
ring  its  growth  in  the  mother’s  womb  causes  its  premature 
death,  and  therefore  its  MURDER,  and  the  party  or  parties 
who  do  it,  or  are  accessory  to  it,  are  MURDERERS. 

Says  Dr.  Eddy  : 

“  Independent  of  all  laws,  human  authorities  or  decisions, 
the  true  Christian  theory  is  that  the  THOUGHT  of  man  in  the 
mind  of  God  embraces  the  entire  period  of  his  earthly  rela¬ 
tions,  between  the  extreme  limits  of  embryotic  existence 
and  old  age.  Who  with  sacreligious  hand  does  violence  to 
this  chain  of  sacred  relations  is  a  MURDERER.” 

This  brings  us  to  the  class  or  classes  of  society  in  which 
are  found  those  who  practice  forced  abortions. 


FCETICIDE. 


279 


1.  Those  in  whom,  by  reason  of  malformation  of  body,  it 
is  found  necessary  to  produce  abortion  or  bring  on  prema¬ 
ture  birth. 

2.  Those  women  who,  being  unmarried,  are  seduced 
through  misrepresentation  by  men  of  licentious  natures. 

3.  Those  who,  being  married,  desire  no  offspring,  as  inter¬ 
fering  with  their  pleasures. 

4.  Those  who,  being  married,  and  maternity  being  forced 
on  them,  desire  no  offspring,  because  of  poverty  or  sickness, 
or  otherwise  being  unprepared  to  lovingly  assume  the  burden 
of  a  desired  maternity. 

These  classes  are  largely  made  up  of  church-members  and 
professing  Christians.  They  belong,  as  a  rule,  to  the  middle 
and  higher  classes  of  society,  and  are  distributed  about 
equally  in  the  cities,  towns  and  villages. 

Of  the  first  class — those  women  who  require  a  forced 
abortion,  owing  to  some  physical  malformation — I  have 
nothing  to  say.  When  it  is  required  to  save  the  life  of  the 
mother  by  the  premature  death  of  the  child,  it  should  never 
be  decided  on  or  performed  without  the  presence  of  at  least 
three  able  and  conscientious  physicians.  The  wrong  and  sin 
done  by  such  women  consists  in  their  marrying  at  all,  or  in 
marrying  men  of  greatly  disproportioned  sizes.  This  class 
is  so  rare  that  it  is  almost  unnecessary  to  mention  them. 

Those  who  belong  to  the  second  class  come  first  in  num¬ 
ber  of  those  who  designedly  practice  pre-natal  murder.  In 
proportion  to  the  number  of  this  class,  there  is  not  near  the 
number  of  forced  abortions  produced  as  in  those  who  are 
married.  When  a  woman  has  been  betrayed  into  relinquish¬ 
ing  her  virtue,  and  pregnancy  follows,  she  should  allow  it  to 
go  on  to  its  full  term.  In  doing  this  she  will  do  infinitely 
less  harm  to  her  organization  than  if  she  had  killed  the  foe¬ 
tus,  and  will  also  be  free  from  a  guilty  conscience.  But 
“  let  no  woman,  who  would  avoid  a  life  of  shame  and  dis¬ 
grace,  trust  the  promises  of  any  man  until  legally  married, 
for  all  experience  shows  that,  aside  from  the  moral  pollution, 


280 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE . 


she  has  a  right  to  expect  to  be  deserted,  or  at  least  reluc¬ 
tantly  married,  without  the  respect  or  confidence  of  her  hus¬ 
band,  with  her  own  confidence  in  his  honor  gone  ;  distrust 
and  unhappiness  must  inevitably  result.  If  she  fails  to  be 
married  to  the  man,  aside  from  her  own  spiritual  degrada¬ 
tion,-  and  feeling  of  unworthiness  to  ever  enter  the  marriage 
relation  with  a  pure-minded  man  when  occasion  offers,  her 
good  name,  if  not  destroyed  by  pregnancy  or  by  some  filthy 
disease,  is  at  the  mercy  of  a  base  libertine,  who  will  not 
scruple  to  throw  out  to  his  associates  insinuations  as  to  his 
success  and  her  folly,  which  will  sooner  or  later  destroy  her 
peace.  By  a  single  false  step  she  has  entered  the  broad  road 
that  leads  to  destruction,  and  she  will  find  little  peace  in  any 
direction.” 

What  can  be  said  of  the  third  class  of  wrong-doers,  who 
desire  no  offspring  because  interfering  with  the  follies  and 
pleasures  of  their  fashionable  existence  ?  Not  one  good 
word  in  extenuation  of  their  unholy  lives  and  unlawful 
crimes.  This  class  of  women,  of  all  these  classes,  is  the 
most  to  be  reprobated,  and  deserve  in  full  measure  the  se¬ 
vere  pains  and  penalties  attached  to  their  wrong-doings. 
Low  indeed  must  that  woman  be  sunken  in  iniquity,  sadly 
blighted  must  be  her  soul,  who  will  allow  a  love  of  the  hol¬ 
low  pleasures  and  vanities  of  a  “  society”  life  to  overcome 
the  instinctive  desire  for  children,  and  to  such  a  degree  as 
not  to  hesitate  at  the  murder  of  her  unborn  child. 

And  lastly,  we  come  to  the  fourth  class — a  class  largely 
exceeding  in  number  all  those  already  mentioned  put  to¬ 
gether.  It  is  in  connection  with  this  class  that  the  unre¬ 
strained  licentiousness  of  the  man  is  paramount.  Exercising 
the  low  and  animal  of  his  nature,  without  any  thought  of  the 
loving  preparation  so  necessary  to  the  originating  a  new 
soul,  and  against  the  wishes  of  the  woman,  the  man  forces 
an  undesired  and  undesigned  maternity  on  his  wife. 

What  is  the  result  ?  “  On  discovering  the  fact,  it  becomes 

repulsive  to  her  nature.  She  is  not  prepared  to  bear  the 


FCETICIDE . 


281 


cross  and  endure  the  crucifixion.  Instantly  her  soul  is  filled 
with  murderous  intent.  She  resolves  to  nip  and  crush  the 
opening  bud  of  life — to  procure  abortion — that  is,  to  com¬ 
mit  the  deed  of  ante-natal  child-murder.  She  does  not  feel 
that  it  is  her  child.  She  may  regard  it  as  yours ,  but  she 
cannot  acknowledge  it  as  her  own  ;  and  though  it  must  re¬ 
ceive  its  gestational  development  in  her  organism,  she  can¬ 
not  tenderly  and  lovingly  cherish  and  guard  it  as  bone  of 
her  bone,  flesh  of  her  flesh,  and  soul  of  her  soul.  It  is  so 
in  fact,  but  not  in  her  feelings.  She  asked  not  for  it ;  her 
soul  repels  it  as  an  intruder,  thrust  upon  her  without  her 
consent,  and  in  contempt,  it  may  be,  of  her  earnest  remon¬ 
strance — for  thus  it  often  is.  The  child,  she  feels,  has  no 
right  to  an  existence  at  her  expense.  An  uninvited  and 
hated  intruder  is  exhausting  her  vital  energies,  and  robbing 
her  of  that  which  no  earthly  treasures  can  ever  restore  or 
recompense.  Through  her  physical  suffering  and  mental 
anguish,  an  unbidden  and  loathed  guest  is  feeding  and  thriv¬ 
ing  on  her  heart’s  blood.  Desperation  and  the  bitterness  of 
death  are  in  her  heart.  Murder  fills  her  soul  toward  your 
unconscious  and  innocent  babe. 

“  Who  is  responsible  ?  On  whom  rests  the  guilt  ?  It  is 
your  work.  You  forced  that  heavy  burden  upon  her,  and 
compelled  her  to  bear  it.  You  thrust  your  child,  as  an  in¬ 
truder,  into  the  sacred  domain  of  her  life,  to  derive  existence 
through  her  organism  and  at  her  expense,  knowing  that  she 
was  not  prepared  to  welcome  it,  and  to  bend  the  forces  of 
her  nature  to  its  growth  and  support ;  and  contrary,  it  may 
be,  to  her  earnest  entreaties  that  she  might  be  spared  this 
pain  and  anguish  till  she  was  ready  joyfully  to  welcome 
them.  But  you  heeded  not  her  prayer  ;  you  assumed  the 
right  to  decide  for  her  when  she  was  prepared  to  endure 
these  trials,  and  under  what  circumstances  she  should  be  a 
mother.  You  must  have  your  stated  gratification  ;  you  have 
abused  your  manhood  and  your  wife  till  this  indulgence,  as 
you  think,  has  become  as  essential  a  want  of  your  life  as 


282 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


your  daily  food — as  the  drunkard  feels  that  alcohol  is  as  es¬ 
sential  as  air  to  his  existence  and  happiness  ;  and  so  you  im¬ 
pose  on  her  a  maternity  which  her  soul  abhors.  You  hor¬ 
ribly  tax  her  vital  energies  ‘  without  her  consent .’  Murder 
is  in  her  heart  toward  the  uninvited  and  hated  intruder  you 
have  introduced  into  the  sanctuary  of  her  life. 

“  What  else  do  you  do,  when  you  impose  on  your  wife  a 
maternity  unasked  and  abhorred  ?  You  commit  the  devel¬ 
opment  and  education  of  your  child,  during  the  most  impor¬ 
tant  and  susceptible  period  of  its  existence,  to  one  who  as¬ 
sures  you  she  is  not  prepared  for  the  charge,  who  entreats 
you  to  spare  her,  and  who  loathes  the  very  thought  of  its 
existence.  Every  element  of  her  womanly  nature,  for  the 
time  being,  recoils  from  its  presence  in  her  system.  She 
pleads  that  you  would  spare  her  this  burden,  at  this  time, 
and  until  her  nature  calls  for  it,  and  is  prepared  joyfully  to 
meet  the  martyrdom  maternity  must  bring  to  her.  Heed¬ 
less  of  her  prayers,  and,  it  may  be,  of  threats  of  death  to 
your  child,  you  demand  the  surrender  of  her  person  to  your 
passion.  Maternity  ensues.  Murder  enters  her  heart  to¬ 
ward  your  child  at  the  same  time.  She  tries  to  ‘  get  rid  of 
it’ — to  murder  it.  She  succeeds.  The  young  life  you  had 
committed  to  her  care  is  nipped  in  the  bud,  as  you  were  as¬ 
sured  it  would  be  before  you  resigned  it  to  her  keeping. 
Where  rests  the  responsibility  ?  On  you,  primarily  and 
mainly.  You  murdered  your  own  child — not,  indeed,  with 
your  own  hands — you  drove  another  to  do  the  desperate 
deed,  and  that  other,  your  wife,  who  came  to  you,  with  a 
loving  and  trusting  heart,  to  save  and  be  saved  ;  and  you, 
to  gratify  your  selfish  passion,  drove  her  to  the  commission 
of  the  crime  of  ante-natal  child-murder — a  crime  that  must 
for  ever  weigh  upon  her  soul  like  a  mountain  of  guilt  and 
shame  ;  a  deed,  after  the  doing  of  which  no  true  woman  can 
ever,  in  this  life,  stand  proud  and  stainless,  in  conscious  in¬ 
nocence  and  dignity,  before  the  tribunal  of  her  womanhood. 
She  has  done  a  deed  for  which  great  Nature  can  find  no  ex- 


FCETICIDE. 


283 


cuse  but  ignorance ;  but  which,  even  when  done  in  igno¬ 
rance,  she  regards  as  a  violation  of  her  just  laws,  and  pun¬ 
ishes  as  such  with  appropriate  penalties — the  loss  of  self-re¬ 
spect  and  the  consciousness  of  degradation.” 

The  following  letters — giving  a  plain,  unvarnished  insight 
into  the  life  of  women  wedded  to  men  who,  through  over¬ 
developed  or  misdirected  amativeness,  bring  such  sin  and 
sorrow  on  what  would  otherwise  be  happy  and  enjoyable 
lives — I  copy  from  a  work  entitled  “  The  Unwelcome  Child,” 
by  Henry  C.  Wright,  to  which  book  I  am  also  indebted  for 
the  above-quoted  paragraphs : 

“  Before  we  married,  I  informed  him  (the  husband)  of  my 
dread  of  having  children.  I  told  him  I  was  not  yet  prepared 
to  meet  the  sufferings  and  responsibilities  of  maternity.  He 
entered  into  an  arrangement  to  prevent  it  for  a  specified 
time.  This  agreement  was  disregarded.  After  the  legal 
form  was  over,  and  he  felt  that  he  could  now  indulge  his 
passion  without  loss  of  reputation,  and  under  legal  and  re¬ 
ligious  sanctions,  he  insisted  on  the  surrender  of  my  person 
to  his  will.  He  violated  his  promise  at  the  beginning  of  our 
united  life.  That  fatal  bridal  night !  It  has  left  a  cloud  on 
my  soul  and  on  my  home  that  can  never  pass  away  on  earth. 
I  can  never  forget  it.  It  sealed  the  doom  of  our  union,  as  it 
does  of  thousands. 

“  He  was  in  feeble  health  ;  so  was  I ;  and  both  of  us  men¬ 
tally  depressed.  But  the  sickly  germ  was  implanted,  and 
conception  took  place.  We  were  poor  and  destitute,  having 
made  no  preparations  for  a  home  for  ourselves  and  child.  I 
was  a  stricken  woman.  In  September,  1838,  we  came  to 
- ,  and  settled  in  a  new  country.  In  the  March  follow¬ 
ing  my  child  developed — under  a  heart  throbbing  with  dread 
and  anguish  at  the  thought  of  its  existence,  was  born.  Af¬ 
ter  three  months’  struggle,-I  became  reconciled  to  my,  at 
first,  unwelcome  child.  But  the  impress  of  my  impatience 
and  hostility  to  its  existence,  previous  to  its  birth,  was  on 
my  child,  never  to  be  effaced  ;  and  to  this  hour  that  child  is 
Sie  victim  of  an  undesired  maternity. 


284 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


“  In  one  year  I  found  I  was  again  to  be  a  mother.  I  was 
in  a  state  of  frightful  despair.  My  first-born  was  sickly  and 
very  troublesome  (how  could  it  be  otherwise  ?),  needing  con¬ 
stant  care  and  nursing.  My  husband  chopped  wood  for  our 
support.  Of  the  injustice  of  bringing  children  into  the 
world  to  such  poverty  and  misery  I  was  then  as  sensible  as 
now.  I  was  in  despair.  I  felt  that  death  would  be  prefer¬ 
able  to  maternity  under  such  circumstances.  A  desire  and 
determination  to  get  rid  of  my  child  entered  into  my  heart. 
I  consulted  a  lady-friend,  and  by  her  persuasion  and  assist¬ 
ance  killed  it.  Within  less  than  a  year,  maternity  was  again 
imposed  upon  me,  with  no  better  prospect  of  doing  justice 
to  my  child.  It  was  a  most  painful  conviction  to  me ;  I  felt 
that  I  could  not  have  another  child  at  the  time.  All  seemed 
dark  as  death.  I  had  begged  and  prayed  to  be  spared  this 
trial  again,  till  I  was  prepared  to  accept  it  joyfully  ;  but  my 
husband  insisted  on  his  gratification,  without  regard  to  my 
wishes  and  condition, 

“  I  consulted  a  physician,  and  told  him  of  my  unhappy 
state  of  mind,  and  my  aversion  to  having  another  child,  for 
the  present.  He  was  ready  with  his  logic,  his  medicines  and 
instruments,  and  told  me  how  to  destroy  it.  After  experi¬ 
menting  on  myself  three  months,  I  was  successful.  I  killed 
my  child  about  five  months  after  conception. 

“  A  few  months  after  this,  maternity  was  again  forced 
upon  me,  to  my  grief  and  anguish.  I  determined,  again,  on 
the  child’s  destruction  ;  but  my  courage  failed  as  I  came  to 
the  practical  deed.  My  health  and  life  were  in  jeopardy  ; 
for  my  living  child’s  sake  I  wished  to  live.  I  made  up  my 
mind  to  do  the  best  I  could  for  my  unborn  babe,  whose  ex¬ 
istence  seemed  so  unnatural  and  repulsive.  I  knew  its 
young  life  would  be  deeply  and  lastingly  affected  by  my 
mental  and  physical  condition.  *  I  became,  in  a  measure, 
reconciled  to  my  dark  fate,  and  was  as  resigned  and  happy 
as  I  could  be  under  the  circumstances.  I  had  just  such  a 
child  as  I  had  every  reason  to  expect.  I  could  do  no  just¬ 
ice  to  it.  How  could  I  ? 


FOETICIDE. 


285 


“  Soon  after  the  birth  of  my  child,  my  husband  insisted 
on  his  accustomed  injustice.  Without  any  wish  of  my  own, 
maternity  was  again  forced  upon  me.  I  dared  not  attempt 
to  get  rid  of  the  child,  abortion  seemed  so  cruel,  so  inhu¬ 
man,  unnatural  and  repulsive.  I  resolved  again,  for  my 
child’s  sake,  to  do  the  best  I  could  for  it.  Though  I  could 
not  joyfully  welcome,  I  resolved  quietly  to  endure  its  exist¬ 
ence. 

“  After  the  birth  of  this  child,  I  felt  that  I  could  have  no 
more  to  share  our  poverty,  and  to  suffer  the  wrongs  and  tri¬ 
als  of  an  unwelcome  existence.  I  felt  that  I  had  rather  die 
at  once,  and  thus  end  my  life  and  my  power  to  be  a  mother 
together.  My  husband  cast  the  entire  care  of  the  family  on 
me.  I  had  scarcely  one  hour  to  devote  to  my  children. 
My  husband  still  insisted  on  his  gratification.  I  was  the 
veriest  slave  alive.  Life  had  lost  its  charms.  The  grave 
seemed  my  only  refuge,  and  death  my  only  friend. 

“  In  this  state,  known  as  it  was  to  my  husband,  he  thrust 
maternity  upon  me  twice.  I  employed  a  doctor  to  kill  my 
child,  and  in  the  destruction  of  it,  in  what  should  have  been 
the  vigor  of  my  life,  ended  my  power  to  be  a  mother.  I 
was  shorn  of  the  brightest  jewel  of  my  womanhood.  I  suf¬ 
fered,  as  woman  alone  can  suffer,  not  only  in  body,  but  in 
bitter  remorse  and  anguish  of  soul. 

“  All  this  I  passed  through  under  the  terrible,  withering 
consciousness  that  it  was  all  done  and  suffered  solely  that  the 
passion  of  my  husband  might  have  a  momentary  indulgence. 
Yet,  such  had  been  my  false  religious  and  social  education, 
that,  in  submitting  my  person  to  his  passion,  I  did  it  with 
the  honest  conviction  that,  in  marriage,  my  body  became  the 
property  of  my  husband.  He  said  so  ;  all  women  to  whom 
I  applied  for  counsel,  said** it  was  my  duty  to  submit;  that 
husbands  expected  it,  had  a  right  to  it,  and  must  have  this 
indulgence  whenever  they  were  excited,  or  suffer  ;  and  that 
in  this  way  alone  could  wives  retain  the  love  of  their  hus¬ 
bands.  I  had  no  alternative  but  silent,  suffering  submission 


286 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE . 


to  his  passion,  and  then  procure  abortion  or  leave  him,  and 
thus  resign  my  children  to  the  tender  mercies  of  one  with 
whom  I  could  not  live  myself.  Abortion  was  most  repul¬ 
sive  to  every  feeling  of  my  nature.  It  seemed  degrading, 
and  at  times  rendered  me  an  object  of  loathing  to  my¬ 
self. 

“  When  my  first-born  was  three  months  old,  I  had  a  des¬ 
perate  struggle  for  my  personal  liberty.  My  husband  in¬ 
sisted  on  his  right  to  subject  my  person  to  his  passion,  be¬ 
fore  my  babe  was  two  months  old.  I  saw  his  conduct  then 
in  all  its  degrading  and  loathsome  injustice.  I  pleaded,  with 
tears  and  anguish,  for  my  own  and  my  child’s  sake,  to  be 
spared  ;  and  had  it  not  been  for  my  helpless  child,  I  should 
then  have  ended  the  struggle  by  bolting  my  legal  bonds. 
For  its  sake,  I  submitted  to  that  outrage,  and  to  my  own 
conscious  degradation.  For  its  sake,  I  concluded  to  take 
my  chance  in  the  world  with  other  wives  and  mothers,  who, 
as  they  assured  me,  and  as  I  then  knew,  were,  all  around 
me,  subjected  to  like  outrages,  and  driven  to  the  degrading 
practice  of  abortion. 

“  But,  even  then,  I  saw  and  argued  the  justice  of  my  per¬ 
sonal  rights  in  regard  to  maternity,  and  the  relation  that 
leads  to  it,  as  strongly  as  you  do  now.  I  saw  it  all  as  clearly 
as  you  do.  I  was  then,  amid  all  the  degrading  influences 
that  crushed  me,  true  and  just  in  my  womanly  intuitions.  I 
insisted  on  my  right  to  say  when  and  under  what  circum¬ 
stances  I  would  accept  of  him  the  office  of  maternity,  and 
become  the  mother  of  his  child.  I  insisted  that  it  was  for 
me  to  say  when  and  how  often  I  should  subject  myself  to 
the  liability  of  becoming  a  mother.  But  he  became  angry 
with  me  ;  claimed  ownership  over  me  ;  insisted  that  I,  as  a 
wife,  was  to  submit  to  my  husband  ‘  in  all  things  threat¬ 
ened  to  leave  me  and  my  children,  and  declared  I  was  not 
fit  to  be  a  wife.  Fearing  some  fatal  consequences  to  my 
child  or  to  myself — being  alone,  destitute,  and  far  from  help¬ 
ful  friends,  in  the  far  West,  and  fearing  that  my  little  one 


FCETICIDE. 


287 


would  be  left  to  want — I  stifled  all  expression  of  my  honest 
convictions,  and  ever  after  kept  my  aversion  and  painful 
struggles  in  my  own  bosom. 

“  In  every  respect,  so  far  as  passional  relations  between 
myself  and  husband  are  concerned,  I  have  ever  felt  myself 
to  be  a  miserable  and  abject  woman.  I  now  see  and  feel  it 
most  deeply  and  painfully.  If  I  was  with  a  child  in  my 
arms,  I  was  in  constant  dread  of  all  personal  contact  with 
my  husband,  lest  I  should  have  a  new  maternity  thrust  upon 
me,  and  be  obliged  to  wean  one  child  before  its  time  to  give 
place  to  another.  In  my  misery,  I  have  often  cried  out :  ‘  O 
God  !  is  there  no  way  out  of  this  loathsome  bondage  ?’ 

“  It  was  not  want  of  kindly  feelings  toward  my  husband 
that  induced  this  state  of  mind,  for  I  could  and  did  endure 
every  privation  and  want  without  an  unkindly  feeling  or 
word,  and  even  cheerfully,  for  his  sake.  But  every  feeling 
of  my  soul  did  then,  does  now,  and  ever  must,  protest 
against  the  cruel  and  loathsome  injustice  of  husbands  to¬ 
ward  their  wives,  manifested  in  imposing  on  them  a  mater¬ 
nity  uncalled  for  by  their  own  nature  and  most  repulsive  to 
it,  and  whose  sufferings  and  responsibilities  they  are  unpre¬ 
pared  and  unwilling  to  meet. 

“  Yours, 

<< _  _ >* 

In  commenting  on  this,  Mr.  Wright  says  : 

“  ‘  Strong  language  !’ — ‘  too  strong  and  sweeping  epithets  !’ 
Can  you,  as  a  man,  a  husband,  and  a  father,  read  the  above 
extract,  and  feel  or  say  that  my  language  is  too  strong  ? 
The  above  is  the  experience  of  a  living  wife  and  mother, 
nearly  verbatim  as  written  by  herself.  It  is  a  simple,  un¬ 
varnished,  affecting  story,  but  bearing  on  its  face  the  stamp 
of  truth,  and  the  evidence  of  a  sense  of  conscious  injustice 
inflicted  by  the  husband,  and  of  a  degradation  self-inflicted, 
solely  to  escape  what  seemed  to  her  a  greater  evil.  Can 
such  ‘loathsome  injustice,’  on  the  part  of  husbands  and  fath¬ 
ers,  toward  their  wives  and  unborn  children,  be  reprobated 
in  too  strong  terms  ? 


238 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


“  Husbands  !  it  is  your  licentiousness  that  drives  your 
wives  to  a  deed  so  abhorrent  to  their  every  wifely,  womanly 
and  maternal  instinct  ;  a  deed  which  ruins  the  health  of 
their  bodies,  prostitutes  their  souls,  and  makes  marriage, 
maternity,  and  womanhood  itself  degrading  and  loathsome. 
No  terms  can  sufficiently  characterize  the  cruelty,  meanness, 
and  disgusting  selfishness  and  injustice  of  your  conduct, 
when  you  impose  on  them  a  maternity  so  detested  as  to 
drive  them  to  the  desperation  of  killing  their  unborn  chil¬ 
dren,  and  often  themselves.” 

The  following  letter  gives  the  experience  of  a  husband 
and  wife,  and  by  a  mutual  friend,  who  is  also  a  wife  and 
mother  : 

“  Some  fifteen  years  ago,  a  man  of  culture,  and  engaged 
in  public  life,  was  united  in  marriage  with  an  intimate  friend 
of  mine.  With  pride  and  confidence,  he  selected  her  from 
a  large  and  admiring  circle  of  friends,  as  one  embodying  his 
ideal  of  womanly  excellence.  My  friend  was  thought  a  for¬ 
tunate  girl  (only  seventeen),  and  many  thought  him  quite  as 
fortunate.  They  were  much  in  society,  and  she  began  to 
enjoy  life  intensely. 

“  She  was  too  much  a  woman  not  to  desire  offspring  some 
time,  but  she  felt  unprepared  to  have  maternity  forced  upon 
her  youth  and  inexperience.  It  came  at  a  time  when  her 
husband’s  calling  led  him  much  from  home,  to  mix  in  the 
society  she  so  much  enjoyed,  and  which  she  felt  was  con¬ 
tributing  to  make  her  what  she  so  much  desired  to  be — her 
husband’s  fitting  and  equal  companion.  It  was  not  without 
a  severe  struggle  she  resigned  these  advantages  and  checked 
her  aspirations.  However,  she  submitted,  though  she  keen¬ 
ly  felt  the  sacrifice. 

“  Though  overwhelmed  with  the  greatness  of  her  respon¬ 
sibilities,  and  an  undefined  dread  of  physical  suffering,  she 
was  determined  not  to  appear  weak,  but  bravely  to  meet  and 
bear  the  burden  imposed  upon  her.  Her  husband  was  absent 
when  the  trial  hour  came  ;  but  when  he  returned,  he  took 


289 


FCETICIDE. 

V 

his  babe  and  wife  to  his  bosom  with  pride  and  joy,  though 
its  gestational  development  had,  apparently,  scarcely  given 
him  an  anxious  thought. 

“  My  friend’s  future  looked  bright.  She  did  not  see  or 
understand  the  fact,  that  she  was  to  continue  to  develop  the 
germs  of  human  beings  into  life,  with  little  sustaining  help 
from  the  father,  whose  caresses  generally  ended  in  exhaust¬ 
ing  her  vital  powers  by  passional  indulgence.  She  did  not 
complain,  but  rather  rejoiced,  as  she  saw  her  other  powers 
of  attraction  to  her  husband  depart  one  by  one,  that  she  was 
so  organized  as  to  be  able  to  meet  what  she  knew  he  consid¬ 
ered  an  essential  want  of  his  nature. 

“  Eleven  years  passed,  at  which  time  she  gave  birth  to 
her  sixth  child.  She  was  a  devoted  mother,  of  a  joyous 
spirit,  and  possessed  of  wonderful  elasticity.  But  woman 
cannot  be  entirely  happy  in  maternity  alone,  without  the 
presence  and  sustaining  power  of  her  husband.  If  she  is  a 
true  wife,  she  desires  to  be  more  to  her  husband  than  merely 
the  mother  of  his  children. 

“  Her  husband  made  for  her  a  beautiful  material  home, 
and  seemed  happy  when  with  her ;  but  he  was  much  away ; 
he  sought  other  pleasures,  social  and  intellectual,  in  which 
she  could  not  participate  ;  she  must  stay  at  home,  alone, 
with  her  children.  Little  did  he  know  the  trials  of  patience 
and  strength  in  his  wife,  in  being  compelled  to  bear  the  re¬ 
sponsibility  of  the  health  and  training  of  her  little  ones 
alone.  The  world  called  her  a  happy  wife,  and  she  felt  that 
she  ought  to  be  so  ;  but  a  dark  cloud  was  coming  over  her 
once  joyous  spirit.  She  began  to  realize  the  fact,  so  fatal  to 
a  wife’s  happiness,  that  her  husband  did  not  feel  her  to  be 
his  equal,  and  a  fitting  companion  to  meet  his  social  and  in¬ 
tellectual  necessities.  When  he  brought  home  a  friend,  she 
listened  to  conversations  and  discussions  in  which  she  could 
not  participate.  She  felt  keenly  the  growing  distance  be¬ 
tween  them,  and  she  knew  too  well  how  it  had  come 
about. 


19 


290 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


“  She  quietly  made  up  her  mind  to  have  no  more  children. 
How  did  she  propose  to  bring  it  about  ?  Not  by  asking  her 
husband  to  deny  himself  his  accustomed  indulgence  ;  no, 
that,  she  thought,  would  be  to  cut  herself  off  from  her 
strongest  hold  on  his  affection  and  confidence,  and  to  sever 
the^last  link  of  the  chain  that  bound  them  together.  She 
did  not  expect  that  any  precaution  would  enable  her  to  es¬ 
cape  conception.  She  brought  herself  to  do  what  was  most 
repugnant  to  her  nature,  and  which,  as  she  felt,  would  de¬ 
stroy  her  self-respect,  and  make  her,  in  her  own  estimation, 
a  degraded  woman — namely,  TO  PROCURE  ABORTION. 

“  The  first  shock  given  to  her  constitution  by  this  abuse 
of  her  nature  was  comparatively  light.  But  once  did  not 
suffice.  As  a  longer  interval  passed  without  a  new-born 
babe  than  ever  before,  she  had  begun  to  take  her  place  by 
her  husband’s  side  in  society,  earnestly  praying  that  she 
might  be  spared  maternity  evermore.  Her  husband  de¬ 
lighted  to  have  her  with  him.  He  felt  that  he  had  a  right*, 
by  law  and  the  customs  of  society,  to  his  gratification  ;  he 
persevered  in  demanding  it,  and  she  continued  to  yield. 
Several  times  in  four  years  did  she  nip  the  young  flower  of 
foetal  life  in  the  bud,  and  each  time  told  more  and  more  ter¬ 
ribly  on  her  constitution,  until  the  power  of  conception  was 
nearly  destroyed,  at  little  more  than  thirty-five  years  of  age. 
She  was  shorn  of  her  womanhood,  and  became  a  sickly, 
broken-down  wife  and  mother,  in  the  very  spring-time,  as  it 
were,  of  her  life,  being  driven  frequently  to  perpetrate  a  de¬ 
grading  outrage  upon  herself,  or  endure  a  maternity  abhor¬ 
rent  to  her  soul ;  and  all  to  gratify  the  sensual  passion  of 
her  husband,  thinking  thereby  to  secure  his  affection  and 
respect.  How  fatally  mistaken  !  By  yielding,  she  strength¬ 
ened  his  passion ,  but  not  his  love. 

“  Reflecting  on  her  sad  experience,  in  the  light  of  your 
book  on  ‘  Marriage  and  Parentage,’  which  I  had  placed  in 
her  hands,  she  saw  clearly  where  the  wrong  had  been,  but 
for  a  long  time  felt  powerless  to  destroy  what  she  regarded 


FETICIDE. 


291 


as  her  last  hold  on  her  husband.  He  was  absent,  and  I  pre¬ 
vailed  on  her  to  write  and  lay  the  matter  frankly  and  plainly 
before  him,  and  send  him  your  book.  She  was  then  pros¬ 
trated  in  body  and  soul  by  the  last  outrage  upon  her  woman¬ 
ly  and  maternal  nature.  She  wrote,  and,  hoping  that  you 
may  do  good  with  these  letters,  the  husband  and  wife  have 
granted  me  the  privilege  of  copying  portions  of  them  for 
you.  Here  is  a  part  of  hers  to  him  : 

“  ‘  My  Dear  Husband  : 

“  *  I  feel  like  lying  down  and  weeping  that  I  have  become 
unworthy,  intellectually  and  spiritually,  of  mating  with  you ; 
but  love  is  the  foundation  of  true  marriage,  is  it  not  ?  and  I 
feel  strong  in  my  love-nature.  It  is  high,  and  deep,  and 
rich,  and  who  shall  say,  if  rightly  cultivated,  what  flowers  of 
intellect  and  spirituality  might  not  blossom  out  from  its 
soil  ? 

“  ‘  My  husband  !  forgive  me  if  I  say  that  I  deeply  and 
sadly  feel  that  my  womanhood  has  been  robbed  of  its  most 
precious  charm  for  your  sake,  through  a  weak  indulgence  and 
subjection  to  that  in  you  which  is  lower  than  the  spiritual. 
My  body  has  been  painfully  desecrated,  perhaps  not  more 
by  your  act  than  mine.  You  suffer  the  loss  of  that  refining 
and  ennobling  influence  which  only  an  undefiled  woman  can 
impart  to  man. 

“  ‘  In  view  of  our  past,  words  cannot  express  my  remorse 
and  self-condemnation ;  but,  believe  me,  the  bitterest  suffer¬ 
ing  is  caused  to  me  by  the  knowledge  that,  through  this  sin 
and  misery,  I  am  rendered  incapable  of  becoming  to  you  a 
tithe  of  what  I  desire  to  be.  How  can  you  do  otherwise 
than  shrink  from  the  wreck  I  am  fast  becoming  ?  And  al¬ 
though  I  may  feel,  in  my  moments  of  anguish  and  remorse, 
that  you  are  as  much  the  cause  of  my  mental  and  physical 
wreck  and  imbecility  as  I  am,  God  grant  I  may  not  unjustly 
murmur  or  accuse  you  ! 

“  *  It  is  said :  “  Men  never  love  complaining  women. 


292 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


Alas!  if  they  treated  their  wives  with  half  the  respect  and 
tender  consideration  they  do  other  women,  there  would  be 
less  ground  for  complaint.  I  am  convinced,  that  in  propor¬ 
tion  as  woman  yields  to  the  demands  of  animal  passion  in 
her  husband ,  in  that  same  ratio  he  loses  his  love  and  respect 
for  her.  By  bitter  and  humiliating  experience  this  convic¬ 
tion  is  forced  upon  me. 

“  ‘  My  husband  !  I  love  you.  The  power  lies  in  you  to 
bless  and  save  me  ,  the  power  lies  in  me  to  bless  and  save 
you;  but  have  we  not  cursed  each  other  instead  ?  I  cry 
unto  you  for  life — will  you  give  me  death  ?  I  would  make 
my  womanhood  a  crown  of  glory  to  your  life — your  man¬ 
hood  to  mine.  Shall  we  allow  the  very  life-essence  of  our 
being  to  be  exhausted  in  sensual  indulgence,  till  we  lose  the 
power  to  feel  and  appreciate  a  pure  spiritual  love  ?  My 
heart  is  reaching  out  to  you  for  life,  at  the  same  time  that 
my  body  is  suffering  untold  agonies  from  the  outrages  per¬ 
petrated  on  my  nature  to  escape  the  anguish  and  horror  of 
an  unwelcome  maternity ;  outrages  which  have  polluted  and 
humbled  my  soul,  and  nearly  destroyed  my  body — all  for 
your  sake  ;  that  I  might  retain  your  love  and  respect. 

“  I  would  rather  lay  down  my  life  now  than  live  without 
your  love.  Can  we  not  love  purely  and  nobly,  without 
prostituting  that  love  in  mere  sensual  indulgence  ?  My  soul 
would  arise  and  go  to  you  as  an  inspiration  from  God  ;  but 
I  am  suffering,  and  a  realization  of  my  present  condition, 
my  physical  diseases,  and  mental  anguish,  and  the  knowl¬ 
edge  that  it  was  all  caused  by  having  maternity  put  upon 
me  when  I  was  not  prepared  joyfully  to  meet  its  trials  and 
responsibilities,  and  the  consciousness  of  the  terrible  out¬ 
rages  that  I  have  been  driven  to  perpetrate  on  myself  and 
your  unborn  children,  harden  my  soul,  and  lower  me  in  my 
own  opinion,  so  that  I  do  now  feel,  and  shall  yet  more  deeply 
feel,  if  this  function  is  still  to  be  imposed  upon  me,  that  I 
am  unworthy  to  appear  in  society.  But  for  the  conscious¬ 
ness  that  your  passion  has  been,  unconsciously  and  igno- 


FCETICIDE. 


293 


rantly,  it  may  be,  the  primary  cause  of  my  misery  and  con¬ 
scious  degradation,  I  should  scarcely  dare  to  claim  the  right 
any  more  to  rest  in  your  bosom  as  your  wife.  We  have 
both  erred. 

“  ‘  You  love  my  person  ;  you  worship  the  animal  in  me. 
If  you  love  not  my  mind,  my  heart  and  soul  more,  and  feel 
not  more  reverence  and  worship  for  the  God  in  me  than  for 
the  animal — if  I  am  unworthy  and  unable  to  meet  the  wants 
of  your  intellectual  and  spiritual  nature,  PERISH  ALL  OUT¬ 
WARD  BONDS  !  Tell  me,  have  I  no  power  to  hold  you  by 
any  bonds  but  the  sensualistic  ?  Has  my  soul  no  power 
over  you  ?  If  this  be  so,  let  me  no  longer  seek  to  hold  you 
at  all.  It  crushes  me,  and  overwhelms  me  with  conscious 
degradation,  to  feel  that  I  have  no  power  over  your  intellect¬ 
ual  and  moral  nature  ;  that  you  come  to  me,  caress  me,  and 
call  me  WIFE,  only  that  I  may  administer  to  your  sensual 
pleasure,  and  that  you  have  no  fond  regard  and  loving  ado¬ 
ration  for  me,  except  for  my  mere  outward,  physical  woman¬ 
hood.  I  cannot  live  so,  feeling  that  your  presence  and  ca¬ 
resses  are  ever  to  be  but  a  prelude  to  the  surrender  of  my 
person  to  your  animal  passion. 

“  ‘  I  know  I  have  powers  of  soul,  which,  if  suffered  to  be 
developed,  without  this  horrible  crucifixion,  might  bless  you. 
I  will  not  yet  believe  that  you  will  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  this  ap¬ 
peal  of  your  wife,  who,  as  you  know,  has  had  and  can  have 
no  life  apart  from  you.  I  pray,  with  tears,  that  you  will 
spare  me  from  a  maternity  which  my  soul  repudiates,  and 
whose  sufferings  I  cannot  endure.  You  will  not  deny  me 
this  privilege,  which,  more  than  anything  else,  I  ask  of 
you. 

“  ‘  Though  much  guilt  is  on  my  soul,  through  repeated 
efforts  to  get  rid  of  the  results  of  your  passional  relations 
with  me,  and  save  myself  from  the  pain  and  anguish  of  a 
maternity  I  have  felt  unable  to  bear,  and  of  giving  birth  to 
children  that  I  do  not  want,  yet  I  will  not  despair  of  salva¬ 
tion  reaching  me  through  your  love.  To  live  as  pure  as 


294 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE . 


my  aspirations  are,  and  have  my  life  the  natural  outgrowth 
of  the  deep  love  which  I  feel  and  must  express  or  die,  would 
bring  us  both  nearer  heaven. 

“  ‘  1  cannot  consent  to  have  the  woman,  the  real  soul- and- 
spirit  woman  in  me,  obliterated.  I  cannot  believe  it  is  my 
destiny  to  have  the  woman  expunged  from  my  nature.  I 
want  to  be  a  strong,  pure  woman.  I  want  to  be  lovely  to 
you.  Yet,  heretofore,  the  strongest  manifestations  of  love 
to  you  have,  usually,  had  little  other  effect  than  to  arouse 
your  animal  nature,  and  thus  have  been  so  turned  as  to  ren¬ 
der  me  unlovely ;  for  a  wife  must  become  unlovely  and  re¬ 
pulsive  to  her  husband  the  moment  he  ceases  to  reverencr 
her  soul,  and  feels  that  she  is  to  him  but  the  means  of  mert 
sensual  gratification. 

‘“You  will  acknowledge  that  there  is  a  terrible  wrong 
somewhere.  May  God  show  us  a  Moses  to  lead  us  out  of 
this  wilderness,  this  Egypt !  You  have  often  chided  me  fot 
feeling  unworthy  of  your  love  ;  reminding  me  how  strange 
it  was,  since  other  and  worthy  men  regarded  me  highly,  and 
that  I  did  not  feel  myself  unworthy  their  regard.  Were 
there  no  abuse  of  our  sexual  rjature,  your  tender  and  noble 
love  wou^d  so  elevate-  and  consecrate  the  functions  of  my 
womanhood,  that  I  should  no  more  be  tormented  with  that 
want  of  self-respect,  which,  alone,  ever  causes  me  to  doubt 
your  love,  and  feel  unworthy  of  it.  I  feel,  at  times,  that 
love  would  not,  could  not,  thus  crush  my  womanhood  ;  that 
it  would,  by  intuition,  guide  you  in  your  passional  relations 
*  with  me,  so  as  never  to  do  a  wrong  or  outrage  to  my  nature, 
even  unwittingly.  The  feeling  which  other  men’s  regard 
awakens  in  me  is  not  brought  down  and  thus  prostituted  to 
sensual  gratification,  but  is  awakened  only  to  vitalize  and 
bless  soul  and  body.  Help  me  and  save  me,  by  your  manly 
strength,  even  from  myself! 

“  ‘  I  appeal  to  you,  in  behalf  of  myself,  of  my  husband, 
and  my  children.  Deep  and  enduring  consciousness  of  guilt 
and  shame  must  rest  on  my  soul,  in  view  of  the  outrages  I 


FCETICIDE. 


295 


have  perpetrated  on  myself  and  my  unborn  children,  whom 
I  was  reduced  to  the  necessity  (as  it  then  seemed  to  me)  of 
killing  before  they  were  born,  or  of  cursing  with  an  exist¬ 
ence  loathed  and  detested  even  by  the  mother  that  bore 
them. 

“  ‘  My  husband  !  you  will,  for  my  sake,  for  your  own  sake , 
for  our  children's  sake,  reflect  on  these  things,  and  send  me 
your  reflections.  You  will  respond  to  this  appeal  from 

“‘Your  Loving  Wife.’ 

“  THE  HUSBAND’S  RESPONSE. 

“  ‘  My  Suffering  Wife  : 

“  ‘  I  have  a  word  to  say  to  you  now,  such  as  I  never  said 
before.  Your  letter  has  revealed  you  to  me  as  I  have  never 
before  seen  you.  It  shows  me  to  what  utter  misery  I  have 
brought  you — how,  for  my  gratification,  you  have  descended 
into  the  lowest  hell. 

“‘You  intimate  that  I  treat  other  women,  personally, 
more  tenderly  and  reverently  than  I  do  you.  That  is  true  : 
to  my  shame  and  regret  I  say  it.  And  yet,  why  should  I 
do  so  ?  Why  should  I  crush  and  desecrate  you,  while  I 
have  too  much  respect  for  other  women  ever  to  think  of  do¬ 
ing  the  same  to  them  ?  There  is  no  reason  for  it.  You  are 
my  dearest  love.  I  should  treat  you  more  tenderly  than  any 
others  ;  be  more  careful  of  your  health,  and  beauty  of  body 
and  soul.  Of  all  women,  the  husband  should  most  anxiously 
watch  over  the  health  of  his  wife,  and  most  shrink  from  the 
abuse  and  desecration  of  her  physical  as  well  as  spiritual 
womanhood. 

“  ‘  But  I  have  not  been  wholly  blind  to  your  deep  misery. 
I  have  seen  it,  and,  at  times,  feared  that  I  might  be  the 

cause.  I  did  not  dare  ask  the  cause.  Feeling  not  myself 

\ 

that  degradation  and  misery  of  which  you  speak,  I  did  not 
know  how  you  suffered  ;  but  I  should  have  known,  had  I 
not  been  blinded  by  passion,  andfby  the  false  idea  that  man 


29  6 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


had  a  right  to  the  indulgence  of  his  passional  nature  when¬ 
ever  he  wished  it,  and  that,  too,  without  regard  to  the  feel¬ 
ings  of  his  wife,  or  the  welfare  of  the  child  that  might 
ensue. 

“  ‘  True,  I,  at  times,  heard  your  words  of  remonstrance 
and  entreaty,  but  they  did  not  touch  my  heart ;  my  passion 
made  me  deaf  or  indifferent  to  your  appeals  to  my  manhood 
to  spare  you  from  a  maternity  which  you  could  not  joyfully 
welcome.  I  was  lost  in  my  own  hell,  and  tormented.  I 
was  blind  ;  but  now  and  then  glimpses  came  to  me,  from 
your  own  keen  anguish,  of  the  real  truth.  But  the  blur  of 

V 

selfish,  craving  passion  would  come  over  my  sight,  and  I 
would  go  on  my  old  way,  cheating  myself  always,  and  some¬ 
times  you,  into  the  feeling  that  it  was  all  right ;  that  man 
had  a  right  to  that  indulgence,  whatever  might  be  the  con¬ 
dition  of  the  wife,  and  whatever  her  feelings  in  regard  to 
maternity.  At  least,  I  persuaded  myself  and  you  that  I 
could  not  help  it ,  and  that  my  health  would  suffer  unless  I 
frequently  held  that  relation  with  you. 

“  ‘  Now  that  blind  dominion  of  passion  is  at  an  end.  Your 
appeal  to  my  manhood  has  reached  its  deepest  depths.  The 
gratification  of  animal  passion  shall  no  more  guide  me  in 
my  relations  to  you.  That  it  ever  has  is  my  shame,  as  well 
as  your  degradation.  I  wish  you  could  see  my  soul  as  it 
now  is  ;  you  would  see  a  resolution  in  it.  The  deep  wail  of 
your  spirit  has  reached  my  heart,  and  I  am  ready  to  go  up 
with  you  out  of  the  perdition  into  which  my  uncontrolled 
sensualism  has  cast  us. 

“  ‘You  have  descended  into  hell,  for  my  gratification.  You 
have  consented  to  terrible  anguish  of  body  and  soul,  for  no 
higher  object  than  my  momentary  pleasure.  You  have  sac¬ 
rificed  your  body  and  soul,  your  self-respect,  your  unborn 
children,  on  the  altar  of  my  ungovernable  passion.  From 
this  hour,  I  will  seek  to  repair  the  wrong  I  have  done  you. 
I  have  forced  on  you,  in  contempt  of  your  entreaties,  a  ma¬ 
ternity  which  could  not  be  otherwise  than  most  hateful  to 


FCETICIDE. 


297 


you.  I  have  compelled  you  to  pass  through  sufferings  of 
body  and  anguish  of  mind  which  you  were  not  ready  to 
meet,  and  which  were  all  the  more  severe  because  they  were 
imposed  by  one  whom  you  loved,  and  who  should  have 
known  better.  I  have  imparted  to  you  the  elements  of  a 
new  life,  when  your  very  soul  spurned  and  loathed  them.  I 
have  filled  your  heart  with  deadly  hatred  toward  the  young 
life,  my  own  child,  that  was  being  developed  beneath  it.  I 
have  compelled  you  to  a  deed  of  all  others  the  most  loath¬ 
some  and  hateful  to  a  pure,  refined  and  noble  woman — to 
the  murder  (it  should  have  no  other  name)  of  your  children, 
to  the  murder  of  my  children,  ere  they  were  born,  to  save 
them  from  the  more  fearful  and  horrible  doom  of  an  unwel¬ 
come  and  hated  existence. 

“  ‘  Talk  not  to  me  of  your  guilt,  of  your  unworthiness  to 
stand  by  my  side,  and  to  tread  with  me  the  path  of  life  as  a 
true,  noble  and  loving  wife.  If  you  are  guilty,  what  am  I  ? 
If  you  feel  degraded  by  the  loss  of  self-respect,  what  ought 
I  to  feel  ?  The  fault  is  all  my  own.  I  should  have  known 
better,  and  had  a  higher  appreciation  of  the  passional  rela¬ 
tion.  Had  I  consulted  your  wishes  as  to  maternity,  had  I 
counselled  with  you  as  to  when  you  could,  with  safety  and 
exultation,  take  charge  of  the  germ  of  my  child,  and  natu¬ 
rally  develop  it  into  life — had  I  never  imposed  on  you  a  re¬ 
pulsive  and  abhorred  maternity,  would  the  stain  of  abortion 
now  darken  your  soul  ?  Yes,  I  see  it  all ;  the  deep  damna¬ 
tion  of  the  deed  is  my  own,  and  would  to  God  that  the  pen¬ 
alty  might  descend  on  me  ;  that  I  could  save  you,  my  long- 
suffering,  too  lenient  and  forgiving  wife,  the  pain  and  an¬ 
guish. 

“  ‘  God  help  me  !  I  am  very  sick  at  heart.  The  bitter¬ 
ness  of  death  enters  my  soul,  as  I  reflect  on  the  unseen  and 
unexpressed  pain  of  body  and  desperation  and  anguish  of 
soul  to  which  my  ungoverned  passion  has  brought  you. 
Can  you  forgive  me  ?  Can  you  again  restore  me  to  your 
loving  confidence  ?  Can  you  ever  again  respect  my  man- 


298 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE . 


hood,  which  has  brought  upon  you  all  this  woe  ?  I  will, 
henceforth,  comply  with  the  teachings  of  the  book  you  sent 
me,  and  hold  my  entire  nature  in  abeyance  to  your  wishes 
and  happiness,  and  in  all  my  passional  relations  with  you, 
my  object  shall  be  your  health  and  happiness,  rather  than 
my  own  gratification. 

“  ‘  Dearest !  believe  and  trust  me  now,  for  I  mean  what  I 
say,  and  it  shall  be  done.  I  have  written  it  here,  and  this 
shall  be  my  pledge;  and  if  ever  I  urge  on  you  a  relation 
that  will  subject  you  to  the  liability  of  maternity,  when  you 
do  not  call  for  it,  lay  this  pledge  before  me,  and  it  shall  be 
respected. 

“  ‘We  shall  yet  rejoice  together  on  earth  as  we  never  did 
before.  This  world  may  not  bring  to  you  entire  restoration 
to  health  of  body,  nor  peace  of  mind,  nor  yet  self-abandoned 
trust  in  your  husband  ;  but  the  effort  to  effect  this,  on  my 
part,  shall  not  be  wanting.  Believe  me,  and  trust  to  the 
love,  the  faith  and  energy  which  your  letter,  and  that  expe¬ 
rience  of  Ernest  and  Nina,  have  awakened  in  me.  We  will 
together  seek  the  aid  of  the  angel  helpers,  who  never  con¬ 
demn  save  to  restore  and  bless,  and  who  are  even  now  lifting 
up  and  vitalizing  the  desponding  and  heart-stricken. 

“  ‘  Dear  wife  !  look  up,  and  trust — trust — TRUST  !  and 
with  strong  nerve,  and  in  conscious  pride  and  innocence,  you 
shall  yet  stand  by  my  side,  and  tread  with  me  the  pathway 
of  the  future,  a  proud,  loving,  trusting,  joyous  wife.  Your 
soul  shall  yet  shine  with  deeper  lustre  on  my  manhood,  to 
elevate  and  save  your  conscience-stricken,  but  not  despairing 
husband.  You  shall  yet  be,  in  deed  and  in  truth,  my  sa¬ 
vior,  and  I  will  be  yours. 

“  ‘  These  are  not  idle  words,  but  come  from  the  heart  of 
your  loving,  penitent,  yet  hopeful  and  confident 

“  ‘  Husband.’ 

“  It  will  do  your  heart  good  to  know  that  that  husband 
has,  thus  far,  been  true  to  his  pledge  ;  that  that  wife  is  now 


FCETICIDE. 


299 


blooming  again  in  comparative  health.  Hope  and  triumph 
are  shining  in  her  face,  love  quickens  the  intellect  and  vital¬ 
izes  the  whole  woman.  And  woman  is  intuitional,  to  under¬ 
stand  and  appreciate  a  true  and  noble  manhood.  You  will 
not  wonder,  then,  that  she  feels  nearer  to  him,  in  mind  and 
spirit,  than  ever  before — for  now  she  understands  him,  and 
he  her.  Could  they  have  talked  over  the  subject  of  passional 
relations,  and  understood  each  other  before  they  entered 
upon  their  marriage  life,  it  had  saved  her  years  of  anguish. 
May  their  history  be  a  beacon-light  to  warn  others  to  shun 
the  rocks  and  shoals  that  lie,  unseen,  in  the  inner  depths  of 
wedded  life! 

“  God  speed  you  in  your  efforts  to  vindicate  the  most  sa¬ 
cred  and  important  of  all  human  rights — the  right  of  woman 
to  say  when  and  under  what  circumstances  she  shall  assume 
the  office  of  maternity ,  and  the  right  of  her  child  to  a  joyous 
welcome  into  life. 

“  With  fervent  prayers  for  the  triumph  of  truth  on  this 
subject,  I  am 

“  Your  friend, 

(( _  _ ” 

Commenting  on  the  foregoing  letter,  Mr.  Wright  says  : 

“  My  friend,  how  many  wives  would  thus  appeal  to  their 
husbands,  if  they  dared  ?  ‘  Sever  the  last  link  of  the  bond 

that  binds  her  to  her  husband  !’  Mere  sensualism  'the  last 
link’  in  such  a  union  !  I  do  not  like  to  talk  of  chains ,  links 
and  bonds ,  in  connection  with  such  a  relation.  Talk  of  these 

in  connection  with  slaveholders  and  slaves,  but  let  them  not 

■ 

sully  a  relation  like  this!  '  The  last  link,'  indeed  !  Yet  it 
is  true ;  it  is,  often,  the  first,  and  last,  and  only  link  that 
binds  the  husband  to  the  wife,  in  what  is  called  marriage. 
Man  seeks  woman  as  a  legal  wife,  that  he  may  legally  and 
respectably  give  indulgence,  without  restraint,  to  his  passion. 
If  the  wife  seeks  to  preserve  her  soul  and  body  from  dese¬ 
cration,  he  threatens  to  leave  her,  and  seek  his  gratification 
where  he  can  find  it.  She  submits,  to  keep  him  with  her ; 


300 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE . 


both  of  them  unmindful  and  regardless  of  the  results  to  the 
child.  ‘  Perish  all  outward  bonds’  of  marriage  at  once,  rath¬ 
er  than  that  the  relation  should  continue  in  this  way  !” 

Let  us  look  at  some  of  the  effects  of  forced  abortions  on 
the  body  and  soul  of  the  mother. 

In  producing  abortion  at  any  period  of  gestation  she  runs 
a  great  risk  of  losing  her  life ;  death  may  occur  from  flood¬ 
ing  or  subsequent  inflammation.  Very  many  women  die 
from  this  cause,  whose  acquaintances  and  even  near  friends 
never  know  the  true  origin.  It  is  difficult  to  get  at  a  nearly 
right  proportion  of  deaths,  but  it  may  be  safely  stated  that 
one  woman  in  every  ten  who  effect  forced  abortions  die — 
either  at  the  time  from  hemorrhage,  or  shortly  after  through 
inflammation,  etc. 

“  It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  death  must  be  immedi¬ 
ate,  and  owing  only  to  the  causes  just  mentioned.  The  ra¬ 
pidity  of  death,  even  when  directly  the  consequence,  greatly 
varies ;  though  generally  taking  place  almost  at  once  if  there 
be  hemorrhage,  it  may  be  delayed  even  for  hours  where 
there  has  been  great  laceration  of  the  uterus,  its  surrounding 
tissues,  and  even  of  the  intestines  ;  if  metro-peritonitis  en¬ 
sue,  the  patient  may  survive  for  from  one  to  four  days — 
even,  indeed,  to  seven  and  ten.  But  there  are  other  fatal 
cases,  where  on  autopsy  there  is  revealed  no  appreciable  le¬ 
sion,  death,  the  penalty  of  unwarrantable  interfering  with 
nature,  being  occasioned  by  syncope,  by  excess  of  pain,  or 
by  moral  shock  from  the  thought  of  the  crime.” 

A  score  of  natural  births  at  the  full  period,  under  right 
conditions,  would  not  entail  on  the  mother  a  shadow  of  as 
much  pain  and  danger  as  would  one  forced  abortion. 

Allowing  the  woman  has  been  so  fortunate  as  to  escape 
death,  there  follows  in  the  wake  of  the  crime  done  such  an 
array  of  evil  results  as  might  well  deter  any  woman  from  the 
commission  of  this  great  crime.  Diseases  of  the  pelvis — 
such  as  vesical  and  uterine  fistula,  adhesions  of  the  os  or  va¬ 
gina,  etc.,  all  of  which  are  often  incurable  ;  uterine  displace- 


FCETICIDE. 


301 


ments,  and  all  their  attendant  miseries.  Sterility  sooner  or 
later  results,  so  that  when  the  woman  really  desires  offspring, 
her  desires  and  prayers  bring  no  echoing  response.  Should 
the  woman  succeed  in  bearing  children,  they  will  likely  be 
puny,  unhealthy,  deformed  and  short-lived. 

If  there  is  one  thing  more  than  another  that  will  destroy 
beauty  it  is  the  one  of  criminal  abortion.  Tight  dressing, 
corsets,  licentiousness,  and,  above  all,  abortion,  will  in  whole 
or  in  part  very  effectually  and  very  quickly  destroy  the  most 
beautiful  face  and  form  a  lovely  woman  ever  was  endowed 
with,  and  hurry  her  with  rapid  strides  to  premature  age, 
with  its  attendant  faded  skin,  wrinkled  face  and  bent  form. 
The  woman  who  produces  abortion  destroys  the  bloom  of 
her  ripe  womanhood,  hardens  and  deepens  the  face-lines, 
angularizes  the  hitherto  rounded  contours,  the  outward  lov¬ 
ing  expression  of  the  soul’s  interior  presence  is  darkened, 
the  rich  maternal  love-nature  is  lost,  and  premature  old  age 
comes  on  with  galloping  strides. 

When  the  “  turn  of  life”  arrives,  there  is  often  present  a 
tendency  to  that  fatal  disease,  cancer. 

And  lastly,  there  is  the  ever-present  remorse  of  conscience — 
the  ever-present  phantom  of  a  great  crime — a  crime  against 
humanity — a  crime  against  the  loving  mercy  and  justice  of 
God,  ever  asserting  the  individuality  of  its  thought-nature, 
ever  destroying  all  peace  and  happiness  of  the  perpetrator. 
And  well  it  may  ;  for  if  murder  will  not  do  it,  and  espec¬ 
ially  the  murder  of  one’s  own  child,  what  will  do  it  ? — what 
can  do  it? 

If  the  result  of  a  forced  abortion  is  so  great  in  its  effects 
on  the  organism  of  the  mother,  would  it  not  be  preferable 
and  advisable  to  allow  the  child  to  arrive  at  its  full  develop¬ 
ment,  and  after  birth,  by  a  dose  of  Prussic  acid,  or  a  cord 
round  its  neck,  put  an  end  to  its  existence  ?  “  This,”  you 

may  exclaim,  “  is  horrible  !”  No  doubt  of  it ;  but  it  does 
not  differ  in  the  least  from  the  taking  life  during  its  existence 
in  the  mother’s  womb — and  it  has  this  to  recommend  it: 


302 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


that  the  murder  of  the  child  after  birth  would  prevent  all  the 
serious  after-consequences  to  the  mother  that  attend  its  pre¬ 
natal  murder.  Without  doubt,  the  doing  this  would  subject 
the  perpetrator  to  arrest,  imprisonment  and  trial  for  murder 
before  a  jury  of  her  countrymen,  yet  this  trial  and  punish¬ 
ment  would  be  but  an  evanescent  and  trifling  affair  in  com¬ 
parison  with  the  trial  she  will  have  to  encounter  at  the  Bar 
of  Judgment,  the  throne  of  God,  before  the  earth’s  assem¬ 
bled  multitudes,  and  having  as  witnesses  these  undeveloped 
souls  that  she  thoughtlessly  and  recklessly  or  knowingly  and 
determinedly  deprived  of  life  before  even  they  entered  on 
their  post-natal  existence.  For  it  should  be  remembered 
that  the  moment  conception  takes  place  at  that  moment  a 
new  soul  is  originated,  and  that  this  soul,  cut  off  by  a  mur¬ 
derer’s  hand  from  growing  and  developing  into  perfection, 
wings  its  flight  to  another  world,  there  to  remain  and  be  a 
witness  against  the  one  who  loosed  it  from  its  earthly  tene¬ 
ment.  There  is  no  doubt  about  this,  and  all  self-argument 
will  avail  naught  against  the  great  truth  that  the  soul — no 
matter  what  its  stage  of  development — never  dies. 

Says  Bishop  Coxe,  Protestant  Episcopal  Bishop  of  West¬ 
ern  New  York,  in  concluding  a  late  Pastoral  Letter  to  his 
people  : 

“  I  have  heretofore  warned  my  flock  against  the  blood- 
guiltiness  of  ante-natal  infanticide.  If  any  doubts  existed 
heretofore  as  to  the  propriety  of  my  warnings  on  this  sub¬ 
ject,  they  must  now  disappear  before  the  fact  that  the  world 
itself  is  beginning  to  be  horrified  by  the  practical  results  of 
the  sacrifices  to  Moloch  which  defile  our  land.  Again  I 
warn  you  that  they  who  do  such  things  cannot  inherit  eter¬ 
nal  life.  If  there  be  a  special  damnation  for  those  who 
‘shed  innocent  blood,’  what  must  be  the  portion  of  those 
who  have  no  mercy  upon  their  own  flesh  ?” 

Should  the  woman  fail  in  accomplishing  her  desire,  as  very 
often  happens,  the  child  will  likely  be  born  with  fractured 
limbs,  club  feet,  loss  of  sight,  hydrocephalus,  or  in  some 


FCETICIDE. 


303 


other  way  will  be  deformed.  But  whether  it  will  be  de¬ 
formed  or  not,  it  will  be  born  with  a  disposition  quarrelsome, 
revengeful,  and  often  murderous  in  its  tendencies. 

What  are  the  means  to  be  employed  to  prevent  the  fur¬ 
ther  growth  of  this  tendency  to  produce  forced  abortions  ? 
A  great  number  of  women  who  are  guilty  of  this  great  sin 
do  it  through  ignorance,  and  they  need  but  fully  realize  the 
enormity  of  the  crime  to  forever  banish  all  thoughts  of  mur¬ 
dering  their  unborn  offspring. 

It  is  noticeable  that  among  Roman  Catholics  foeticide  is 
not  practiced.  It  is  prevented  through  the  terrors  of  the 
confessional,  for  it  is  included  in  their  faith  that  a  child  dying 
in  utero  is  unsaved  because  unbaptized.  If  this  is  so,  and 
Protestants  continue  to  practice  foeticide  to  such  an  extent 
as  is  at  present  done,  there  is  no  reasonable  doubt  why  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  will  not  ultimately  attain  the  as¬ 
cendancy  on  this  continent,  and  so  hold  the  balance  of  pow¬ 
er  in  its  management — truly  not  a  desirable  prospect. 

The  underlying  cause  for  this  great  wrong  is  the  over¬ 
grown  and  misdirected  quality  of  amativeness,  coupled  with 
love  of  wealth  and  display.  This  may  be  considered  the 
root  of  the  whole  matter ;  and  until  women — but  especially 
men — are  educated  into  a  right  understanding  of  the  use 
and  abuse  of  amativeness,  or,  better  still,  until  they  are  bor?i 
with  normal  and  well-regulated  social  propensities  and  gov¬ 
erning  sentiments,  just  so  long  will  the  crime  of  foeticide  be 
prevalent  in  society. 

If  ministers  would  learn  more  of  human  physiology  and 
phrenology,  and  less  of  the  dogmas  of  religion,  and  preach, 
practice  and  teach  them,  they  would  do  infinitely  more  for 
the  good  of  their  congregations  in  particular  and  humanity 
in  general.  All  ministers  and  teachers  should  be  as  well 
learned  in  the  laws  that  govern  the  sexual  organism,  and 
other  departments  of  human  physiology,  as  they  are  in  the 
supposed  legitimate  pursuit  of  their  lives.  Every  college, 
academy  and  school  should  have  a  department  allotted  to 


304 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE . 


the  study  of  physiology,  and  especially  that  branch  of  it  so 
necessary  to  a  right  knowledge  of  life  socially  and  sexually. 
And  until  this  knowledge  is  taught  and  disseminated  equally 
with  geography,  astronomy,  French,  etc. — branches  that  are 
of  infinitely  less  importance — -just  so  long  will  there  be 
abroad  among  the  people  the  sexual  and  social  iniquity  that 
springs  from  ignorance  of  the  laws  of  the  human  organism, 
which  are  the  laws  of  God. 

The  class  in  which  foeticide  most  largely  predominates  is 
the  last  in  the  list  above  enumerated — those  who,  being 
married,  have,  through  the  licentious  needs  of  the  husband, 
maternity  forced  on  them  when  they  do  not  desire  it,  or  in 
no  way  are  prepared  for  the  duties  and  responsibilities  at¬ 
tending  it.  When  such  a  husband  persists  in  debasing, 
through  the  exercise  of  his  animal  propensities,  not  only  his 
own  higher  nature — if  he  has  such  a  quality — but  also  the 
loving,  trusting  and  pure  nature  of  his  wife,  I  know  of  no 
other  remedy  that  would  be  effectual  than  that  of  separation 
of  the  wife  from  her  licentious  master,  the  husband.  This 
may  involve  circumstances  that  would  cost  the  wife  much 
anxiety,  but  it  cannot — be  the  consequences  never  so  seri¬ 
ous,  and  the  future  prospect  never  so  gloomy — cost  as  much 
as  would  her  debasing  slave-life  with  her  so-called  hus¬ 
band. 

Prevention  in  this,  as  in  all  other  departments  of  human 
wrong,  is  at  all  times  preferable  to  a  cure  ;  and  if,  in  marry¬ 
ing,  the  Law  of  Choice  is  closely  observed,  no  such  social 
errors  can  possibly  happen. 

“  Maidens  !  a  word  to  you.  Never  enter  into  the  physi¬ 
cal  relations  of  marriage  with  a  man  until  you  have  con- 
versed  with  him  freely  and  fully  on  maternity,  and  the  rela¬ 
tion  that  leads  to  it.  Learn  distinctly  his  views  and  feel¬ 
ings,  and  his  expectations,  in  regard  to  that  purest  and  most 
ennobling  of  all  the  functions  of  your  nature,  and  the  most 
sacred  of  all  the  intimacies  of  conjugal  life.  Your  respect, 
your  beauty,  your  glory,  your  heaven  as  a  wife,  will  be  more 


305 


FETICIDE. 

\ 

directly  involved  in  his  feelings  and  views  and  practices,  in 
regard  to  that  relation,  than  in  all  other  things.  As  you 
would  not  become  a  weak,  a  miserable,  imbecile,  unlovable 
and  degraded  wife  and  mother,  in  the  very  prime  of  your 
life,  come  to  a  perfect  understanding  with  your  chosen  one, 
ere  you  commit  your  person  to  his  keeping  in  the  sacred  in¬ 
timacies  of  home.  Beware  of  that  man  who,  under  pre¬ 
tence  of  delicacy,  modesty  and  propriety,  shuns  conversa¬ 
tion  with  you  on  this  relation,  and  on  the  hallowed  function 
of  maternity.  Concealment  and  mystery,  in  him,  toward 
you,  on  all  other  subjects  pertaining  to  conjugal  union,  might 
be  overlooked  ;  but  if  he  conceals  his  views  here,  rest  as¬ 
sured  it  bodes  no  good  to  your  purity  and  happiness  as  a 
wife  and  mother.  You  can  have  no  more  certain  assurance 
that  you  are  to  be  victimized,  your  soul  and  body  offered 
up,  slain ,  on  the  altar  of  his  sensualism,  than  his  unwilling¬ 
ness  to  converse  with  you  on  subjects  so  vital  to  your  hap¬ 
piness.  In  the  relation  he  seeks  with  you  will  he,  practi¬ 
cally ,  hold  his  manhood  in  abeyance  to  the  calls  of  your  na¬ 
ture  and  to  your  conditions,  and  consecrate  its  passions  and 
its  powers  to  the  elevation  and  happiness  of  his  wife  and 
children  ?  If  not,  your  maiden  soul  had  better  return,  to 
God  unadorned  with  the  diadem  of  conjugal  and  maternal 
love,  than  that  vou  should  become  the  wife  of  such  a  man, 
and  the  mother  of  his  children  ?” 

In  the  right  observance  of  the  Law  of  Choice  ;  the  suc¬ 
ceeding  growth  into  a  true  love-marriage — a  perfect  soul- 
union  ;  a  faithful  conformity  to  the  Law  of  Continence  ;  and, 
when  a  love-child  is  desired,  the  fulfillment  of  the  Law  of 
Genius,  is  found  the  only  true  line  of  life,  and  the  only  real 
mode  of  avoiding  sexual  sin  and  preventing  its  attendant 
miseries. 


20 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 


DISEASES  PECULIAR  TO  WOMAN — THEIR  CAUSES,  SYMP¬ 
TOMS  AND  CURE. 


ISEASES  peculiar  to  wo¬ 
men  are  so  many  in  their 
variety,  so  serious  in  their 
results,  and  of  such  fre¬ 
quent  occurrence,  as  to  be 
a  source  of  large  revenue  to 
physicians,  who  otherwise 
would  have  to  take  to  a 
change  of  occupation  to 
earn  a  livelihood.  And  not 
only  does  the  so-called  reg¬ 
ular  physician  reap  the  ben¬ 
efits  derived  from  woman’s 
heedless  observance  <5f  the 
laws  that  govern  her  organ¬ 
ism,  but  quacks — with  their 
patented  nostrums,  and 
their  quack  instruments  of  support,  likewise  patented, 
coupled  with  their  indelicate  and  unnatural  quack  examina¬ 
tions — almost  entirely  rely  on  this  class  of  complaints  for  the 
money  with  which  they  so  sumptuously  live  and  so  lavishly 
advertise. 

Out  of  a  hundred  women,  in  any  large  or  medium  sized 
city,  there  may  on  examination  be  found  one  who  has  a  per¬ 
fect  normal  play  of  all  the  functions  of  her  body — the  re- 

306 


DISEASES  PECULIAR  TO  WOMEN, '.  307 

\ 

maining  ninety-nine  being  troubled  with  neuralgia,  or  oth¬ 
erwise  “  dreadfully  nervous,”  or  have  some  one  or  other  of 
the  many  “ female  complaints.” 

This  state  of  things  will  continue  to  increase,  unless  wo¬ 
men  adopt  the  true  mode  of  life  sexually,  socially  and  mor¬ 
ally — and  especially  until  they  come  to  understand  that  in 
being  sick  they  sin;  and  instead  of  ever  bringing  to  the 
surface  their  petty  sickness  and  ailments,  they  should  be 
ashamed  to  allow  even  their  near  friends  know  their  condi¬ 
tion — -just  as  much  ashamed  as  if  caught  in  breaking  the 
eighth  or  ninth  commandments,  or  any  other  law  or  com¬ 
mandment  intended  for  our  physical  or  moral  guidance. 

This  assertion,  applying  equally  to  man,  may  appear  se¬ 
vere,  but  yet  it  cannot  be  gainsayed.  A  man  or  woman  is 
as  responsible  to  God  for  laws  broken  and  sins  committed 
physically,  as  they  are  responsible  for  the  non-observance  of 
the  moral  law  intended  for  their  spiritual  guidance.  A  man 
being  sick  from  over-eating,  drinking  alcoholic  liquors,  sex¬ 
ual  excesses — or  a  woman  from  tight  dressing,  wafer-soled 
shoes,  corsets,  or  idleness,  is  as  liable  to  the  inevitable 
punishment  consequent  on  his  wrong-doing,  as  if  he  had 
fouled  his  spiritual  nature  by  lying,  swearing,  stealing,  etc., 
and  in  either  case  should,  when  possible,  in  shame  hide  the 
effect  and  endeavor  to  remedy  the  cause. 

Corsets,  constrictions  of  dress,  love  of  display,  idleness, 
and  sexual  excesses,  are  the  positive  underlying  causes  for 
most  of  the  diseases  peculiar  to  women  enumerated  below  ; 
and  to  regain  health  it  is  only  necessary  to  return  to  a  just 
and  faithful  observance  of  these  unbending  laws,  that  govern 
and  direct  the  delicate  machinery  of  “  the  house  we  live 
in.” 

Absent  menstruation  is  where  the  menses  never  have  made 
their  appearance.  The  time  at  which  menstruation  should 
first  appear  in  women  varies  so,  according  to  climate,  hab¬ 
its,  etc.,  that  it  is  impossible  to  fix  a  definite  time  for  its  ap¬ 
pearance.  It  usually  occurs  at  about  fifteen  in  the  southern 


3°8 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


part  of  the  continent,  and  a  little  later  in  the  northern. 
Provided  the  girl  is  otherwise  healthy,  the  non-appearance 
of  the  menses  should  cause  no  anxiety,  and  medicine  used 
for  the  purpose  of  bringing  them  on  should  be  shunned.  It 
is  a  fact  that  females  may  menstruate  without  any  hemor¬ 
rhagic  discharge  being  visible.  When  their  non-appearance  is 
owing  to  absence  of  the  ovaries  or  womb,  the  sexual  char¬ 
acteristics  of  woman  are  wanting — the  breasts  being  small 
and  flabby,  the  body  lacking  fullness  and  roundness  of  out¬ 
line,  and  occasionally  there  is  a  slight  beard  on  the  upper 
lip.  When  this  state  is  not  indicated  in  the  young  woman, 
but  she  otherwise  embodies  a  healthy,  happy,  enjoyable 
state  of  being,  no  means  should  be  employed  to  force  the 
appearance  of  the  menses,  other  than  a  right  observance 
of  eating  plain  food,  drinking  only  pure  water,  and  plenty 
of  out-door  exercise.  The  longer  a  woman  puts  off  the 
ripening  of  the  first  ovum,  by  living  on  plain  and  unstimu¬ 
lating  food,  freedom  from  mental  excitement,  reading  nov¬ 
els,  dancing,  etc.,  and  the  avoidance  of  all  that  tends  to  a 
“  hot-house  growth,”  the  longer  will  she  retain  her  youth 
and  beauty. 

When  through  debility,  congestion,  and  other  symptoms, 
indicating  a  low  state  of  the  vital  powers,  they  do  not  ap¬ 
pear  at  the  proper  time,  the  symptoms  noticeable  will  be  : 
an  effort  at  menstruation  every  month,  marked  by  shiver- 
ings,  pain  in  the  small  of  the  back  and  the  lower  part  of  the 
abdomen,  aching  down  the  thighs,  with  a  feeling  of  weight 
and  fullness  of  the  womb.  The  general  symptoms  are  pain 
and  throbbing  in  the  head,  pain  in  the  side,  stomach  and 
bowels,  a  feeling  of  great  weakness,  etc.  In  the  treatment, 
the  first  requirement  is  to  remove  the  general  debility,  and 
strengthen  the  system  by  a  vigorous  attention  to  right  die¬ 
tary  rules,  baths,  exercise,  and  especially  by  the  breathing 
at  all  times  pure  air,  and  so  give  Nature  a  chance  to  per¬ 
form  her  requirements.  Above  all,  do  not  use  any  forcing 
remedies,  for  these  are  not  only  ineffectual,  but  oft-times 


DISEASES  PECULIAR  TO  WOMEN.  309 


dangerous.  The  sitz-bath  is  a  valuable  agent  to  assist.  It 
should  be  taken  of  a  temperature  to  suit  the  patient,  daily, 
before  going  to  bed,  remaining  in  it  from  ten  to  fifteen  min¬ 
utes.  A  vaginal  syringe  'injection  should  be  employed  at 
the  same  time.  The  daily  sponge,  air  and  sun-bath,  already 
mentioned,  should  never  be  omitted.  The  clothing  should 
be  warm  and  loose,  and  the  feet  kept  dry  and  warm.  Good 
fruit,  coarse  bread,  corn  bread,  unseasoned  vegetables,  etc., 
should  be  used  as  food.  Out-door  exercise — such  as  brisk 
walking,  rowing,  horseback  riding,  or  any  variety  of  calis- 
thenic  exercise — are  great  aids. 

Retained  menstruation  occurs  when  the  blood,  through 
some  impediment — closing  of  the  mouth  of  the  uterus,  ad¬ 
hesion  of  the  walls  of  the  vagina,  imperforate  hymen,  etc. 
— is  not  expelled.  It  may  be  known  by  a  sense  of  weight 
or  fullness  in  the  pelvic  region,  which  is  increased  at  each 
menstrual  period  ;  a  feeling  of  weakness  and  heaviness  in 
the  back  and  loins,  aching  sensations  down  the  thighs,  etc. 

-  The  treatment  required  is  mainly  of  a  surgical  nature,  and  is 
unnecessary  to  give  here. 

Suppressed  menstruation  is  caused  by  sudden  colds,  bodily 
injuries,  debility,  mental  shocks,  inflammation  of  the  ovaries 
or  womb,  from  exhaustion  by  amative  excesses,  etc.  When 
suddenly  arrested  it  constitutes  acute  suppression  ;  if  the 
suppression  be  gradual,  chronic  suppression.  The  symptoms 
of  suppression  are  sometimes  quite  violent,  while  at  other 
times  but  little  disturbance  ensues.  The  treatment  does  not 
differ  from  that  in  the  case  of  absent  menstruation.  The  pa¬ 
tient’s  general  health  should  be  carefully  restored.  The  use 
of  warm  hip  and  foot-baths  and  the  wet  bandage  should 
form  part  of  the  treatment. 

Chronic  suppression  may  result  from  an  acute  attack,  or  it 

mav  arise  from  enfeebled  health  or  some  disease  of  the  vital 

✓ 

organs,  as  the  lungs,  stomach,  etc.  It  should  be  treated  on 
the  same  plan  recommended  in  absence  of  the  menses. 

Irregular  menstruation .  The  menses  without  being  en- 


3io 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


tirely  suppressed,  may  be  irregular  in  time,  in  quality,  or  in 
quantity,  caused  by  some  derangement  of  the  general  health. 
The  treatment  is  similar  to  that  mentioned  in  absence  of  the 
menses. 

Painful  menstruation  is  caused  by  sudden  colds  at  the 
menstrual  period,  or  soon  after  delivery,  by  exhaustion, 
caused  by  the  luxurious  indulgences  of  civilized  life,  by  un¬ 
natural  or  excessive  excitement  of  the  organs.  The  symp¬ 
toms  present  are  more  or  less  pain  in  the  pelvis,  weakness 
and  distress  in  the  small  of  the  back,  tenderness  and  swelling 
of  the  breasts,  headache,  etc.  Clots  of  blood  are  formed  in 
the  uterus,  and  sometimes  a  false  membrane  is*  thrown  off, 
either  entire  or  in  shreds,  which  is  expelled  with  violent 
bearing-down  efforts,  with  intervals  of  comparative  ease,  like 
those  of  child-birth.  These  pains,  and  the  expulsion  of  a 
membrane,  might  readily  be  mistaken  for  a  miscarriage. 
The  attacks  last  from  one  to  four  days,  during  which  time 
many  patients  are  unable  to  walk  or  even  stand,  and  espec¬ 
ially  so  during  the  bearing-down  contractions  of  the  uterus, 
while  others  are  obliged  to  keep  their  beds.  A  cure  can 
only  be  effected  by  means  of  proper  treatment  during  the  in¬ 
tervals.  The  bowels  should  be  kept  regular  by  right  diet, 
and,  when  constipated,  should  be  freed  by  enemas  of  tepid 
water.  Vaginal  injections  of  warm  water,  and  warm  or  hot 
sitz-baths,  and  otherwise  the  treatment  as  recommended  in 
the  case  of  suppressed  menstruation  should  be  commenced 
in  earnest  to  prevent  its  recurrence.  Every  law  of  health 
should  be  observed,  and  every  possible  cause  of  ill  health 
abstained  from.  A  free,  happy,  unexcited  and  unexhausting 
life  will  greatly  help.  During  the  attack  a  cold  or  hot  sitz- 
bath  should  be  taken,  and  continued  while  the  pain  lasts. 
The  relief  is  more  immediate  by  the  hot  bath  ;  but  the  cold 
bath,  at  a  temperature  of  from  sixty  to  seventy-five  degrees, 
is  the  best.  At  the  same  time  a  hot  foot-bath,  as  well  as 
vaginal  injections,  may  be  employed.  These  baths  should 
be  repeated  on  every  return  of  the  pain. 


DISEASES  PECULIAR  TO  WOMEN.  31 1 


Profuse  menstruation.  In  a  perfectly  healthy  state,  the 
menstrual  discharge  is  light  in  color,  lasts  about  three  days, 
and  does  not  generally  exceed  two  ounces ;  yet  the  quantity 
of  blood  discharged  varies  so  much  with  different  females, 
that  any  excess  over  this  amount  would  not  be  a  symptom 
of  excessive  menstruation,  unless  accompanied  with  a  failure 
of  the  general  health.  Natural  menstrual  fluid  does  not  co¬ 
agulate  or  clot,  and  when  clots  do  appear,  they  indicate  not 
only  that  the  discharge  is  unhealthy,  but  also  the  presence 
of  excessive  menstruation.  The  causes  for  this  disease  are 
repeated  child-bearing,  excessive  coition,  enervating  modes 
of  life,  mental  excitement,  hard  and  exhausting  labor,  etc. 

But  the  great  cause  is  produced  by  husbands  who,  by  ex¬ 
cessive  and  sensual  indulgence,  claim  the  legal  right  to  de¬ 
stroy  and  oft-times  murder  their  wives,  and  in  such  a  way 
that  no  coroner  can  hold  an  inquest.  It  is  required,  during 
the  existence  of  this  disease  and  its  treatment,  that  a  rigidly 
chaste  and  continent  life  be  observed.  Sexual  intercourse 
should  be  totally  abstained  from  until  the  cure  is  complete 
and  permanent ;  and  when  the  husband  will  not  allow  this, 
the  wife  should  separate  from  him,  either  permanently  or  for 
a  time,  or  else  make  up  her  mind  to  a  wretched  present  ex¬ 
istence,  with  no  better  prospect  than  a  premature  death. 
During  the  flooding  the  patient  should  lie  down  on  a  mattress, 
and  remain  perfectly  quiet  until  all  threatening  symptoms 
have  passed  off.  If  this  does  not  check  the  discharge,  suffi¬ 
ciently  cold  wet  cloths  should  be  applied  to  the  abdomen, 
and  frequently  changed,  and  cold  water  injected  into  the  va¬ 
gina.  Cold  water  may  be  drank  freely  from  the  beginning. . 
During  the  intervals,  to  effect  a  perfect  cure,  a  close  observ¬ 
ance  of  the  laws  of  health  should  be  carried  out.  Espec¬ 
ially  should  a  chaste  and  continent  life  be  observed. 

Vicarious  menstruation  occurs  when  there  is  hemorrhage 
from  any  other  part  of  the,  system  than  from  the  uterus — as 
from  the  nose,  lungs,  stomach,  bladder,  nipples,  or  some 
other  part  of  the  body — which  takes  the  place  of  the  proper 


312 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


menstrual  discharge.  The  sudden  arrest  of  an  accustomed 
discharge  is  usually  the  immediate  cause  of  vicarious  men¬ 
struation.  This  disease,  not  usually  a  dangerous  one,  can 
be  cured  by  restoring  to  its  normal  action  the  obstructed 
menstruation  by  the  means  already  given. 

Cessation  of  menstruation ,  occurring  at  between  the  ages 
of  forty-five  and  fifty,  and  commonly  termed  “  turn  of  life” 
or  “  time  of  life,”  is  not  to  be  regarded  as  morbid  in  itself, 
but  only  where  the  woman  has  been  or  is  in  ill  health,  when 
she  will  be  peculiarly  liable  to  a  variety  of  maladies — as 
rheumatism,  cutaneous  eruption,  ulcers  of  the  legs,  cancer 
and  other  affections  of  the  breasts,  apoplexy,  insanity,  etc. 
This  predisposition  to  disease,  on  the  cessation  of  the  men¬ 
strual  function,  can  only  be  avoided  by  a  close  observance  of 
the  laws  of  health ;  for  if  the  woman  is  in  sound  health,  the 
“  turn  of  life”  will  cause  her  no  more  trouble  or  suffering 
than  would  the  cessation  of  lactation. 

Chlorosis ,  or  “  green  sickness,”  is  generally  connected 
with  some  one  of  the  various  disorders  of  menstruation. 
It  is  more  a  disease  of  general  debility  than  of  abnormal 
uterine  action.  Among  the  usual  causes  are  the  indolent 
and  luxurious  habits  of  life  of  the  wealthy,  and  excessive  la¬ 
bor,  insufficient  and  wrong  food,  and  impure  air,  etc.,  of  the 
poor.  Amative  exhaustion,  self-abuse,  constipating  food, 
patent  medicines,  idleness,  impure  air,  tea,  coffee,  excess  of 
flesh  meats,  etc.,  tend  alike  to  enfeeble  the  body  in  general 
and  the  digestive  organs  in  particular,  so  that  there  is  not 
sufficient  vital  power  to  establish  and  carry  on  menstruation, 
and  “  green  sickness”  is  the  result.  The  mind  of  a  chlorotic 
woman  is  a  prey  to  fretfulness  and  gloomy  forebodings  ;  her 
sleep  is  broken  and  disturbed  by  frightful  dreams  ;  there  is 
singing  in  the  ears;  specks  before  the  eyes;  partial  loss  of 
sight ;  trembling  of  the  limbs  ;  nervous  pains  in  the  face  and 
in  various  parts  of  the  body.  The  stomach  loathes  food,  or 
craves  the  most  disgusting  and  unwholesome  things — as 
chalk,  dirt,  ashes,  and  even  insects.  The  bowels  are  gener- 


DISEASES  PECULIAR  TO  WOMEN.  313 


erally  costive,  but  sometimes  loose,  and  the  urine  is  pale  and 
generally  scant ;  the  face  is  bloated,  the  eyes  are  sad  and 
languishing,  the  lips  pale,  and  the  skin  cool,  clammy,  and 
often  cold,  especially  about  the  hands  and  feet.  In  the 
treathient  of  chlorosis,  the  great  object  is  to  improve  and 
restore  the  general  health.  The  patient  should  breathe  pure, 
bracing  air ;  she  should  exercise  as  much  as  her  strength 
will  allow ;  her  diet  to  consist  of  ripe  fruits,  laxative  vege¬ 
tables,  brown  bread,  etc.,  as  recommended  in  a  previous 
chapter.  Water  is  the  best  and  only  allowable  drink.  When 
any  article  of  food  disagrees  with  the  patient  its  use  should 
be  discontinued  ;  for  food,  when  undigested,  irritates  and 
weakens,  rather  than  strengthens.  The  dress  should  be 
warm,  equally  covering  the  extremities,  and  loose  enough  to 
allow  the  most  perfect  freedom  of  every  movement.  The 
daily  sponge,  air  and  sun-bath  should  never  be  neglected. 
Some  judgment  may  be  required,  in  extreme  cases,  in  man¬ 
aging  the  bathing  appliances.  It  is  better  to  commence  with 
water  of  a  warm  temperature,  slowly  reducing  the  tempera¬ 
ture  as  the  circulation  improves.  The  mind  should  be  di¬ 
verted  by  innocent  amusements,  social  intercourse,  and  works 
of  charity  and  benevolence  ;  and  all  depressing  mental  influ¬ 
ences,  and  every  thing  calculated  to  work  on  the  feelings  and 
affect  the  nerves  should  be  studiously  avoided.  All  prepa¬ 
rations  of  iron,  chalybeate  water,  or  drugs  of  any  kind,  pat¬ 
ent  or  otherwise,  should  also  be  carefully  shunned.  They 
invariably  do  harm — never  any  good. 

Inflammation  of  the  ovaries  is  comparatively  rare.  When 
present,  it  is  characterized  by  deep-seated  and  severe  pain, 
accompanied  with  heat  and  swelling  in  one  or  both  groins. 
It  is  to  be  treated  as  would  any  other  inflammation — by  the 
constant  application  of  cloths  or  bandages  dipped  in  cold 
water ;  frequent  hip-baths  ;  bowels  to  be  kept  open  by  ene¬ 
mas  of  tepid  water  ;  rest,  and  a  very  plain  and  abstemious 
diet. 

hiflammation  oj  the  uterus  is  common  with  married 


314 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


women — rarely  affecting  the  unmarried.  It  is  caused  by 
blows,  falls,  violent  exertions,  etc.  The  symptoms  are  chil¬ 
liness,  followed  by  fever ;  heat  and  uneasiness  in  the  region 
of  the  womb,  with  occasional  sharp  pain  in  the  back,  darting 
forward  and  down  the  thighs.  The  pain  is  much  increased 
by  coughing  and  by  hard  pressure  over  the  womb.  In  se¬ 
vere  cases  the  symptoms  are  much  more  positive,  the  whole 
system  being  involved  in  the  feverish  disturbance. 

Chronic  inflammation  is  a  much  more  common  disease 
than  the  above.  It  is  very  insidious,  and  may  make  consid¬ 
erable  progress  before  attracting  the  attention  of  the  patient. 
When  the  local  symptoms  are  noticeable,  there  is  a  dull  pain 
in  the  lower  part  of  the  abdomen  ;  depression  or  sinking 
down  of  the  womb  sometimes  ;  and  frequently  a  mucus,  or 
white  discharge,  which  is  sometimes  tinged  with  blood,  if 
there  is  ulceration.  Pain  in  sexual  intercourse  is  perhaps 
one  of  the  earliest  and  most  common  symptoms.  Pain  or 
some  uneasiness  in  emptying  the  bladder  and  bowels  is  also 
a  common  symptom.  In  the  treatment  of  acute  inflamma¬ 
tion  of  the  uterus,  when  there  is  much  fever,  the  body  should 
be  frequently  sponged  with  cold  water,  or  the  cold  wet- sheet 
pack  should  be  employed  once  a  day  for  an  hour.  Two  or 
three  times  a  day  moderately  cool  sitz-baths  should  be 
taken.  A  cold  wet  bandage  should  be  kept  on  the  lower 
part  of  the  abdomen,  and  renewed  as  often  as  it  becomes 
warm.  Frequent  injections  of  cold  water  into  the  vagina, 
and  occasional  injections  of  water,  either  cold  or  warm,  into 
the  rectum,  if  there  is  constipation,  will  be  beneficial.  The 
patient  should  breathe  pure  air,  in  a  cool,  well-ventilated 
room,  and  take  no  food  until  the  violence  of  the  disease  is 
abated,  and  then  it  should  be  as  simple  as  possible.  Should 
the  disease  be  of  the  chronic  form,  the  above  treatment  may 
be  adopted,  but  with  a  moderation  in  the  temperature  of  the 
water  and  in  the  number  of  baths  ;  otherwise  the  great  aim 
should  be  to  improve  the  general  health. 

Ulceration  of  the  uterus  is  one  ol  the  ^effects  or  termina- 


DISEASES  PECULIAR  TO  WOMEN.  315 


tions  of  inflammation,  and  is  produced  principally  by  the  ir¬ 
ritation  caused  by  excessive  sexual  intercourse.  Among 
prostitutes  the  disease  is  almost  universal.  All  manner  of 
ememagogues  greatly  help  to  produce  the  disease,  as  does 
also  habitual  constipation  and  wrong  habits  generally.  The 
symptoms  are  nearly  similar  to  those  of  inflammation.  At 
first  there  is  a  mucus  discharge,  but  after  a  time  it  may  be¬ 
come  leucorrhoeal,  the  quantity  being  usually  increased  after 
each  menstruation.  The  treatment  consists  of  the  same  gen¬ 
eral  plan  as  that  mentioned  for  inflammation,  the  first  re¬ 
quirement  being  to  regain  the  general  health.  For  local 
treatment  there  is  nothing  better  than  repeated  vaginal  in¬ 
jections  of  cold  water,  from  fifteen  to  thirty  minutes  at  a 
time.  The  doing  this  faithfully  ten  to  fifteen  times  a  day, 
with  careful  observance  of  the  Plan  of  Life,  and  absolute 
freedom  from  sexual  intercourse,  will  insure  a  speedy  recov¬ 
ery.  A  cure  can  always  be  effected  without  caustics,  and  the 
patient  should  never  allow  their  use. 

Tumors  in  the  uterus  grow  either  in  its  walls,  in  a  solid, 
fleshy  body — when  they  are  called  fibrous — or  they  are  at¬ 
tached  to  the  mouth  by  a  slender  stalk  or  pedicle,  in  which 
case  they  are  called  polypous  tumors.  The  fibrous  tumors 
seldom  produce  any  constitutional  effect,  and  the  symptoms 
are  mostly  mechanical.  These  are  comparatively  rare. 
Polypous  tumors  vary  in  size  from  a  pea  to  a  child’s  head. 
When  they  attain  a  considerable  size  there  is  a  bearing-down 
pain,  straining  and  difficulty  in  evacuating  the  bladder  and 
bowels,  and  sometimes  frequent  and  profuse  floodings. 
When  the  disease  progresses"  so  as  to  cause  paleness,  loss  of 
flesh,  palpitation  of  the  heart,  etc.,  it  should  be  removed  by 
a  skillful  physician. 

Cancer  of  the  uterus  is  the  most  fearful  and  fatal  disease 
to  which  the  womb  is  exposed.  It  rarely  attacks  young 
women,  and  is  most  common  about  the  “  change-of-life”  pe¬ 
riod.  The  disease  is  frequently  hereditary,  and  when  there 
is  a  predisposition  and  cause  likely  to  excite  the  womb,  cancer 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE . 


316 

may  be  developed.  In  the  first  stage,  that  of  hardening ,  the 
symptoms  are  such  as  arise  from  pressure  ;  while  in  the  sec¬ 
ond  stage,  or  that  of  open  ulceration ,  the  pain  is  severe,  acute 
and  darting,  or  burning.  In  this  stage  there  is  more  or  less 
loss  of  blood,  which  when  discharged  is  thin,  greenish,  black, 
dirty  white  or  brown,  and  has  a  very  offensive  smell.  The 
skin  is  yellow,  or  of  a  yellowish  hue,  there  is  slow  fever, 
night  sweats,  loss  of  flesh,  want  of  appetite,  and,  in  short, 
general  derangement  of  all  the  functions  of  the  body.  There 
is  only  one  possible  cure  for  this  disease — the  strictest  hy¬ 
gienic  diet,  verging  on  starvation,  the  purest  and  most  invig¬ 
orating  life,  and  a  course  of  the  most  active  purification  by 
a  judicious  use  of  baths,  air,  light,  exercise,  drinks,  food, 
etc.  By  the  adoption  of  this  course  in  the  early  stages  a 
cure  is  possible,  and  at  any  stage  it  is  the  only  hope. 

Corroding  ulcer  and  cauliflower  excrescence.  These  are 
also  malignant  diseases  of  the  womb.  The  symptoms  very 
much  resemble  those  of  cancer — so  much  so  that  the  distinc¬ 
tion  cannot  well  be  made  in  domestic  practice.  About  the 
only  difference  between  corroding  ulcer  and  cancer  is  the  ab¬ 
sence,  in  the  former,  of  the  filling  up  and  around  the  dis¬ 
eased  part,  and  the  thickening  and  hardening,  which  has 
been  described  as  the  first  stage  of  cancer.  The  most  dis¬ 
tinctive  symptom  of  cauliflower  excrescence  is  a  copious 
watery  shedding  at  first,  which  after  awhile  is  streaked  with 
blood,  and  finally  changes  to  a  profuse  flooding.  The  other 
symptoms  are  almost  identical  with  cancer,  and  the  treat¬ 
ment  should  be  conducted  on  the  same  plan. 

Displacements  of  the  uterus.  'These  disorders,  so  common 
in  women — more,  perhaps,  than  any  other  disease  arising 
from  a  local  cause — indicate  the  great  extent  to  which  women 
have  departed  from  a  natural  life.  Especially  is  this  appli¬ 
cable  to  the  “higher  classes”  of  society,  although  it  is  to  be 
found  in  all  classes.  Few  disorders  cause  more  suffering, 
and  few  are  worse  managed. 

Prolapsus  uteri ,  or  falling  of  the  womb,  may  be  classed 


DISEASES  PECULIAR  TO  WOMEN.  317 


under  two  different  heads — that  of  partial ,  when  it  is  within 
the  vaginal  passage,  and  that  of  complete  prolapsus ,  when  it 
protrudes  externally. 

The  engraving  (Fig.  27)  exhibits  (A)  the  uterus  in  its  nat¬ 
ural  position,  from  four  to  six  inches  from  the  external  open¬ 
ing.  In  its  partial  descent  (B),  it  ranges  from  being  merely 
depressed  below  its  normal  position  to  its  descent  to  the 
bottom  of  the  vaginal  canal.  Its  complete  prolapsus  is 
shown  in  the  third  drawing  (C.) 

The  local  causes  for  prolapsus  are 
found  in  the  relaxation  of  the  vagina 
and  the  muscles  of  the  abdomen,  ex¬ 
cessive  sexual  excess,  and  a  constantly 
constipated  rectum,  with  the  daily  effort 
to  empty  it.  The  general  cause  is  tight 
dressing  and  weight  of  clothes  on  the 
hips,  forcing  the  viscera  down  on  the 
uterus,  and  bad  habits  of  life  generally 
— as  wrong  food,  causing  constipation, 
etc.,  and  breathing  impure  air,  sleeping 
on  feather  beds,  idleness,  producing,  al¬ 
together,  debility,  and  a  weak  state  of 
the  vital  power.  The  exciting  cause 
may  be  a  fall,  lifting  heavy  weights, 
straining,  as  in  evacuating  the  bowels, 
getting  up  too  early  after  confinement, 
although  this  last  would  never  result  in 
tailing  of  the  womb,  if  women  would 
leave  off  their  enervating  habits,  and 
live  so  as  to  give  proper  strength  and  firmness  to  their  mus¬ 
cles. 

The  symptoms  are  pain  or  weakness  in  the  back,  with  a 
dragging,  bearing-down  sensation,  as  if  something  were 
about  to  come  away.  These  feelings  are  intensified  in  stand¬ 
ing  or  walking,  and  are  most  troublesome  in  the  evening. 
There  is  also,  not  unfrequently,  a  whitish  discharge,  and 


3i8 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


some  straining  or  difficulty  in  evacuating  the  bladder  and 
bowels.  There  is  commonly  present  a  sense  of  oppression  or 
“  goneness”  at  the  pit  of  the  stomach,  palpitation  of  the 
heart,  sadness,  low  spirits,  weakness  of  the  knees,  and  gen¬ 
eral  exhaustion.  The  “  courses”  generally  continue  regular, 
there  being  nothing  in  the  prolapsus  to  prevent  this. 

Whatever  diminishes  vitality  in  the  woman  may  cause 
prolapsus  uteri,  and  therefore  the  acquirement  of  perfect 
health  must  be  the  first  aim  in  its  treatment.  Before  any 
mode  of  local  treatment  be  commenced,  the  dress  must  be 
so  made  and  worn  that  it  will  be  perfectly  loose,  and  in  no 
manner  or  form  constrict  the  body.  The  whole  weight  of 
the  clothing  should  rest  on  the  shoulders  ;  with  women,  as 
with  men,  this  should  be  a  law.  It  is  useless  for  any  woman 
who  is  troubled  with  falling  of  the  womb  to  think  of  curing, 
or  attempting  to  cure  it,  until  she  adopts  a  short  and  perfect¬ 
ly  loose  dress,  the  weight  of  which,  with  the  rest  of  her 
clothing,  should  hang  entirely  from  her  shoulders.  The 
woman,  having  decided  on  the  reform  in  dress,  has  more 
than  half  adopted  the  plan  for  a  certain  and  rapid  recovery. 
Next  in  importance  is  the  adoption  of  right  dietetic  habits. 
What  is  meant  by  this  has  already  been  so  often  mentioned 
as  to  require  no  further  details.  Of  course,  a  life  of  chastity 
must  be  observed.  The  daily  bath,  with  thorough  after¬ 
friction  and  kneading,  especially  in  the  region  of  the  abdo¬ 
men  and  loins,  by  the  hands  of  a  strong,  healthy  person, 
should  be  had,  in  the  rays  of  the  sun,  when  it  is  shining. 
The  local  treatment  should  consist  of  vaginal  injections  of 
cold  water,  these  injections  to  be  repeated  several  times  a 
day ;  hip-baths  of  cool  or  cold  water  taken  daily,  followed 
by  friction  ;  enemas  of  water  thrown  up  the  rectum  to  keep 
the  bowels  in  order.  Should  the  womb  be  partly  or  entirely 
out,  a  stream  of  cold  water  from  the  syringe  should  be  made 
to  play  directly  on  it,  after  which — the  woman  lying  on  her 
back — it  should  gently  and  gradually  be  pushed  up  as  far  as 
practicable.  The  woman  should  retain  the  horizontal  posi- 


DISEASES  PECULIAR  TO  WOMEN. 


3i9 


tion  from  half  an  hour  to  an  hour  afterwards.  Before  rising 
a  temporary  support  may  be  employed,  by  the  introduction 
of  a  piece  of  very  soft  sponge,  but  it  should  never  be  allowed 
to  remain  in  longer  than  an  hour  at  a  time,  as  in  that  case  it 
may  do  more  harm  than  good. 

In  the  treatment  of  falling  of  the 
womb,  if  the  patient  has  a  desire  for  a 
speedy  recovery,  she  will  reject  the  ap¬ 
plication  of  caustics,  supports,  and  es¬ 
pecially  pessaries,  for  they  will  do  great 
harm  and  positively  no  good.  The  use 
of  pessaries  causes  great  pain,  irritation, 
leucorrhcea,  and  often  ulceration.  Cases 
are  recorded  where  the  pessary  has 
passed  into  the  bowels. 

The  loose  dress,  hip  and  general 
baths,  thorough  rubbing  and  manipula¬ 
tion  of  the  abdominal  muscles,  cold 
water  vaginal  injections,  improvement 
of  the  general  health,  and  avoidance  of 
constipation  by  proper  food  and  ene¬ 
mas,  will  insure  a  perfect,  radical  cure 
of  this  most- frequent  and  most  annoy¬ 
ing  of  complaints. 

Retroversion  of  the  uterus.  After 
prolapsus  of  the  womb,  this  is  the  most 
common  displacement.  In  this  form, 
the  fundus  of  the  uterus  generally  tilts 
backward  against  the  rectum.  (Fig. 

28,  D.)  In  an  extreme  case  it  is  called 
retroflexion  (A.)  It  may  be  caused  by 
congestion  of  the  fundus,  rendering  the 
upper  part  of  the  womb  heavier  than  in 
its  natural  state.  It  most  commonly 
occurs  in  the  early  stages  of  pregnancy, 
by  suffering  the  urine  to  accumulate  in 


Fig  2S. 


320 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


the  bladder.  The  symptoms  are  straining  and  difficulty  in 
passing  the  urine  and  in  emptying  the  bowels ;  a  dull,  aching 
and  constant  pain  in  the  back,  and  a  sense  of  weight  in  the 
rectum.  The  treatment — after  first  restoring  the  uterus  to 
its  normal  position,  by  bringing  the  cervix  down  with  the 
forefinger  of  one  hand,  and  pushing  up  the  fundus  with  the 
other — consists  in  precisely  the  same  plan  as  that  given  for 
prolapsus. 

A nteversion  of  the  uterus.  In  anteversion  (B)  the  body  of 
the  organ  inclines  forward  toward  the  bladder,  and  the  neck 
projects  backward  toward  the  rectum.  When  the  fundus  and 
neck  are  flexed  on  each  other  at  an  acute  angle,  it  is  called 
anteflexion  (C.)  The  causes  for  the  uterus  bending  forward 
are  weakness  of  the  abdominal  muscles,  constipation  of  the 
bowels,  presence  of  tumors,  or  violent  accidents.  The  treat¬ 
ment,  after  returning  the  organ  to  its  natural  position,  is  the 
same  as  in  prolapsus. 

Leuco7'rhoea}  or  “whites,”  is  the  term  applied  to  a  color¬ 
less,  white  or  yellowish  discharge,  secreted  from  either  the 
mucus  membrane  of  the  vagina  or  uterus,  or  both.  The  in¬ 
flammation  may  be  either  acute  or  chronic,  the  last  being 
most  common.  Among  the  numerous  causes  for  this  dis¬ 
ease  mentioned  by  writers  are  a  sedentary  life,  reading  books 
of  fiction,  too  early  marriages,  solitary  pleasures,  sexual 
excesses,  frequent  child-bearing,  abortion,  stimulating  and 
constipating  food  and  drinks,  want  of  cleanliness,  ill  venti¬ 
lated  rooms,  mental  emotion,  pessaries  in  the  vagina,  etc. 
The  symptoms  in  the  early  stages,  should  the  inflammation 
be  of  an  acute  character,  are  heat,  soreness  about  the  vagi¬ 
na,  with  a  feeling  as  if  the  parts  were  swollen.  The  dis¬ 
charge  is  at  first  small  in  quantity,  thin,  and  of  a  whitish 
character,  but  it  gradually  becomes  more  profuse,  thicker, 
and  assumes  a  yellowish  or  greenish  hue.  Generally,  these 
earlier  and  more  acute  symptoms  are  not  present,  and  the 
disorder  is  marked  more  by  its  effects  on  the  constitution, 
than  by  great  pain  and  uneasiness  in  the  parts  affected. 


DISEASES  PECULIAR  TO  WOMEN.  321 

When  the  inflammatory  symptoms  have  continued  an 
uncertain  length  of  time,  or  when  the  disease  has  gradually 
undermined  the  constitution  without  any  permanent  local 
symptoms,  there  is  the  following  train  of  sympathetic  and 
general  disorders  resulting  from  this  apparently  trivial  whit¬ 
ish  discharge,  which  has  become  so  common  in  civilized  life 
that  many  women  consider  it  natural  to  them,  and  not  an 
evidence  of  disease  resulting  from  bad  habits.  Patients  af¬ 
flicted  with  chronic  “  whites,”  beside  pains  in  the  hack  and 
lower  part  of  the  abdomen,  and  in  various  parts  of  the  body, 
suffer  from  depraved  appetite,  from  sour  stomach,  headache, 
hiccough,  and,  in  short,  the  thousand-and-one  symptoms  of 
dyspepsia.  They  are  sensitive  to  cold,  especially  about  the 
feet,  while  the  head  is  unusually  hot ;  they  are  troubled  with 
palpitation  of  the  heart  and  fainting  fits,  with  pains  in  the 
breast,  etc.  ;  the  face  becomes  pale,  the  eyes  hollow,  and 
they  weep  without  cause  ;  they  become  careless,  impatient, 

1 

and  feel  a  sort  of  languor  and  dejection,  a  sensation  of  strang¬ 
ling  or  choking,  and  an  involuntary  sadness  ;  they  are  apa¬ 
thetic,  melancholy,  hypochondriacal,  etc.  The  treatment,  in 
a  great  measure,  should  be  of  the  same  general  and  local 
plan  as  for  prolapsus.  In  the  early  stages  vaginal  injections 
of  tepid  water,  followed  by  cold  water,  five  or  six  times  a 
day,  should  be  observed.  The  hip-bath,  repeated  twice  or 
thrice  a  day,  from  five  to  ten  minutes  at  a  time,  followed 
each  time  by  active  friction  on  the  back,  hips,  and  lower 
part  of  the  abdomen,  is  one  of  the  main  reliances  for  a 
speedy  cure.  Sexual  intercourse  must  be  rigidly  abstained 
from.  It  often  happens  that  husbands  having  intercourse 
during  the  presence  of  the  “  whites,”  contract  a  disease 
which  may  readily  be  mistaken  for  that  foul  and  disgusting 
disorder  arising  from  impure  sexual  intercourse.  When  leu- 
corrhoea  is  symptomatic  of  displacement  of  the  uterus,  as  it 
very  often  is,  the  first  requirement  in  a  cure  is  the  return  of 
the  displaced  organ  to  its  natural  position.  If  women  would 
avoid  this  undesirable  disease,  they  must  abandon  their 

21 


322 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


present  sedentary  habits,  and  take  oft-repeated  exercise  in 
the  open  air ;  they  must  pay  more  attention  to  bathing  and 
cleanliness ;  they  must  avoid  works  of  fiction,  and  shun 
those  places  of  amusement  which  tend  to  excite  the  sexual 
organs  ;  they  must  discontinue  the  use  of  highly  stimula¬ 
ting  food  and  drinks,  and  especially  tea  and  coffee  ;  they 
must  lead  chaste  and  continent  lives  ;  and,  in  short,  they 
must  remodel  all  their  habits  of  life. 

Vulvitis ,  or  inflammation  of  the  external  organs  of  gene.- 
ration,  has  as  symptoms  heat,  swelling,  redness,  and  a  throb¬ 
bing  pain  extending  to  the  groin.  When  the  inflammation 
extends  or  is  confined  to  the  mucus  membrane,  there  will  be 
a  leucorrhceal  discharge,  with  a  disagreeable  smarting.  In 
the  early  stages  the  disease  may  be  aggravated  by  the  rub¬ 
bing  of  the  affected  part  by  the  patient  in  her  effort  to  re¬ 
lieve  the  uneasiness.  The  cause  of  this,  as  in  other  diseases 
of  a  like  nature,  is  to  be  attributed  to  the  wrong  mode  of 
life  the  person  follows.  Perfect  cleanliness  of  the  parts, 
bathing  and  right  habits  of  living,  are  the  requirements  nec¬ 
essary  to  its  cure. 

Pruritis  occurs  when,  with  inflammation  of  the  vulva, 
there  is  an  intolerable  itching  of  the  part  affected.  The 
symptoms  are  an  intolerable  itching,  attended  with  a  burn¬ 
ing,  smarting,  disagreeable  and  sore  feeling.  Through  sym¬ 
pathy,  and  through  the  desire  to  rub  the  parts,  which  is  al¬ 
most  irresistible,  nymphomania  is  sometimes  produced.  Says 
Dr.  Churchill: 

“  In  severe  cases,  when  the  parts  are  very  tender,  there  is 
no  sexual  desire  excited  ;  but  in  other  and  slighter  cases, 
where  friction  does  not  occasion  distress,  this  is  sometimes 
the  case  ;  and  that  which  was  at  first  adopted  for  the  relief 
of  the  pruritis,  may  give  rise  to  other  sensations  as  imperi¬ 
ous  in  their  desire  of  gratification,  and  which  increase  by  in¬ 
dulgence,  so  that  the  patient  is  reduced  to  a  very  melancholy 
condition  ;  utterly  unfit  for  society,  she  is  injured  by  soli¬ 
tude,  which  leaves  her  to  the  uncontrolled  dominion  of  her 


DISEASES  PECULIAR  TO  WOMEN.  323 


imagination  ;  her  mind,  influenced  by  the  excitement  of  the 
organs  affected,  is  occupied  with  lascivious  thoughts  and  im¬ 
pure  desires,  and  her  conduct  (in  defiance  of  herself,  as  a 
patient  expressed  it)  toward  the  other  sex  shows  the  influ¬ 
ence  of  her  bodily  disorder.” 

The  cause  for  this  disease  is  somewhat  obscure.  In  its 
treatment,  “  the  whole  mass  of  blood  should  be  purified  of 
its  grossness  and  irritating  humors  as  rapidly  as  possible. 
The  wet-sheet  pack,  and  the  prolonged  tepid  half-bath,  are 
usually  indicated.  Sitz-baths  of  a  mild  and  soothing  tem¬ 
perature — from  seventy-five  to  eighty-five  degrees— should 
be  employed  with  a  frequency  proportionate  to  the  urgency 
of  the  case.  The  bowels  must  be  thoroughly  cleared  of  all 
irritating  foecal  matter  by  means  of  copious  enemas  of  tepid 
water ;  and  the  patient’s  diet  should  be  extremely  abstemi¬ 
ous,  and  restricted  to  plain  brown  bread  and  unsugared 
fruit,  until  the  local  irritation  is  overcome.” 

There  are  other  diseases  and  malformations  of  the  exter¬ 
nal  organs — as  adhesion,  absence,  excessive  development, 
etc.,  of  the  labia,  enlargement  of  the  clitoris,  etc.,  that  might 
be  mentioned  here ;  but  as  they  are  of  rare  occurrence,  and 
require,  in  most  instances,  the  presence  ot  a  surgeon,  I  omit 
them. 


CHAPTER  XXIV, 


DISEASES  PECULIAR  TO  MEN — THEIR  CAUSES  AND  SYMP¬ 
TOMS,  WITH  DIRECTIONS  FOR  HOME-TREATMENT  AND 
CURE. 


IVING  other  than  a  conti¬ 
nent,  chaste,  and  true  life, 
man  entails  on  his  own  con¬ 
stitution,  and  oft-times  on 
his  children  and  his  chil¬ 
dren’s  children,  penalties  of 
such  a  foul,  disgusting  and 
loathsome  nature,  as  in 
their  presence  and  develop¬ 
ment  to  warn  all  who  have 
doubts  as  to  whether  a  li¬ 
centious  life — with  its  great 
and  ever-present  penalties 
—  or  a  strictly  continent 
life  —  with  its  attendant 
strength,  beauty,  growth, 
and  development  of  the  physical  and  soul-life  of  the  indi¬ 
vidual — is  the  most  preferable  and  most  desirable  for  exam¬ 
ple  and  precept. 

If  men  whose  abnormal  desires  lead  them  into  the  ways 
of  promiscuous  intercourse,  could  but  see  some  one  or  more 
of  the  victims  to  be  found  at  all  times  in  anv  of  the  large 
hospitals — the  foul,  loathsome  ulcer ;  the  poison  eating  away 


324 


DISEASES  PECULIAR  TO  MEN. 


325 


gradually,  slowly,  but  surely,  the  flesh ;  the  eyes  gone,  the 
nose  destroyed,  giving  the  face  a  most  hideous  aspect ;  the 
bones  of  the  skull  eaten,  exposing  the  brain;  the  mark  of 
manhood  obliterated  altogether,  a  loathsome  living  death — 
they  would  think  twice  before  venturing  into  the  meshes  of 
her  whose  “  feet  take  hold  on  hell.”  The  breaking  of  no 
other  human  law  entails  on  the  wrong-doer  such  fearfully 
prompt,  repulsive  and  incurable  penalties  as  does  the  un¬ 
natural  one  of  miscellaneous  intercourse.  The  very  first 
transgression  oft-times  develops  the  poison  of  syphilis,  the 
non-desire  for  which  may  be  inferred  from  what  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  of  French  surgeons  has  said  :  “  I  would 
not  have  a  chancre  of  the  size  of  a  pin’s  head  on  my  person 
for  all  Paris.” 

But,  alas  !  notwithstanding  such  dangers,  sfich  possible  re¬ 
sults,  and  the  express  commandments  of  God,  men  will  do 
this  unclean  thing,  and  in  doing  it  they  will  suffer  the  pen¬ 
alty  attached  to  the  transgression,  and  how  to  avoid  the  full 
measure  of  the  penalty  all  such  anxiously  desire  to  know. 

Gonorrhoea  is  so  named  from  two  Greek  words  meaning  a 
flow  of  semen,  it  being  supposed,  in  the  early  history  of  the 
disease,  that  the  discharge  consisted  of  semen,  instead  of  a 
mixture  of  mucus  and  pus,  its  true  nature. 

The  symptoms,  appearing  between  the  second  and  fifth 
day,  are  at  first  very  slight,  there  being  an  uneasy,  tickling 
and  smarting  sensation  at  the  mouth  of  the  canal,  which  on 
examination  is  found  to  be  more  florid  than  usual,  and  moist¬ 
ened  with  a  small  quantity  of  colorless  and  viscid  fluid, 
which  glues  the  lips  of  the  meatus  together.  This  moisture, 
afte-r  a  time,  loses  its  clear,  watery  appearance,  and  assumes 
a  milky  hue.  These  early  symptoms  are  present  when  the 
contagion  is  yet  confined  to  the  extreme  portion  of  the 
urethra.  This  first  stage  generally  lasts  from  two  to  four 
days,  when  the  symptoms  gradually  become  more  intense, 
until,  in  about  a  week  after  exposure,  the  second  or  inflam¬ 
matory  stage  may  be  said  to  commence.  During  this  stage 


326 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


the  mucus  membrane  covering  the  glans  has  a  reddened  and 
angry  look,  the  extremity  of  the  organ  is  swollen,  the  dis¬ 
charge — now  of  a  thick,  yellowish,  creamy  color — has  be¬ 
come  copious,  there  is  intense  pain  in  passing  the  urine,  ex¬ 
cited  by  the  irritation  produced  by  the  salts  contained  in  the 
urine,  and  in  consequence  of  the  urethra  being  contracted 
and  more  or  less  obstructed  by  the  discharge,  the  stream  is 
forked  or  otherwise  irregular.  A  person  with  gonorrhoea  is 
apt  to  be  troubled  with  nocturnal  erections,  when  it  often 
happens  that  the  penis  is  bent  in  the  form  of  an  arc,  produ¬ 
cing  ckordee ,  caused  by  the  effused  lymph  on  the  under  sur¬ 
face  of  the  organ  rendering  it  less  extensible  than  the  re¬ 
maining  portion.  It  sometimes  happens  that  sympathetic¬ 
ally  there  is  enlargement  and  tenderness  of  one  or  more 
glands  in  the  groin,  producing  buboes.  This  second  stage 
lasts  from  one  to  three  weeks.  This  is  followed  by  the  third 
or  final  stage,  which  is  characterized  only  by  the  disappear¬ 
ance  of  the  more  prominent  symptoms,  and  a  gradual  return 
to  health,  the  discharge  becoming  less  and  less  purulent,  and 
finally  completely  disappearing.  This  last  stage  may  last  for 
weeks  or  months,  depending  on  whether  it  is  treated  and  the 
mode  of  treating  it. 

The  causes  of  gpnorrhoea,  in  the  male,  are  produced  from 
having  intercourse  with  a  woman  having  this  disease,  or  from 
a  woman  having  simply  inflammation  of  the  uterus, 
“whites,”  dysmenorrhcea,  or  even  if  intercourse  be  had  du¬ 
ring  the  menstrual  period.  When  produced  in  this  last  way, 
the  man  and  woman — or  husband  and  wife,  as  sometimes 
happens — must  otherwise  lead  irregular  and  unhygienic  lives  ; 
but  established  and  reliable  authorities  have  asserted  that  it 
may  arise  from  intercourse  with  women  who  themselves 
have  not  the  disease. 

Gonorrhoea,  in  the  woman,  may  occur  in  the  urethra,  vulva 
or  vagina — one  being  affected,  the  others  will  be  more  or 
le'.ss  so.  For  many  reasons,  it  is  much  less  common  in 
women  than  in  men.  The  symptoms — often  obscure — do 


DISEASES  PECULIAR  TO  MEN. 


327 


not  differ  from  the  usual  early  symptoms  of  inflammation  of 
the  other  mucus  membranes.  The  discharge,  at  first  tran¬ 
sparent,  becomes  muco-purulent,  and,  when  the  disease  has 
attained  its  height,  thoroughly  purulent.  When  secreted 
from  the  vagina  it  is  of  an  acid,  creamy,  fluent  nature.  When 
the  vulva  is  affected,  there  is  an  early  sensation  of  heat  and 
itching,  the  labia  and  nymphae  swelling  to  a  great  degree. 
This  form  of  gonorrhoea  occasions  intense  suffering  in  the 
woman.  When  the  vagina  is  affected,  it  rarely  fails  to  ex¬ 
tend  to  the  cervix ,  and  so  produce  barrenness. 

In  the  treatment  of  gonorrhoea,  the  indications  are  first  to 
restore  the  general  health ;  and  second  to  allay  the  local  in¬ 
flammation.  It  is  a  fact  that  cannot  be  gainsayed,  that  the 
men  who  acquire  such  diseases  are  almost  invariably  gross, 
as  well  as  licentious  in  their  habits  of  living.  The  first  re¬ 
quirement  in  the  direction  of  a  cure  (and  this  will  apply 
with  equal  force  to  all  acute  diseases  of  the  sexual  organs) 
is  that  the  patient  give  up  the  use  of  tobacco,  alcoholic 
liquors,  milk,  flesh,  grease,  seasoning,  and  a  stimulating  diet. 
He  should  live  on  the  very  plainest  of  food,  such  as  baked 
apples  and  potatoes,  thin  gruel,  unleavened  bread,  tomatoes, 
prunes,  oranges,  etc.  During  the  stage  of  acute  inflamma¬ 
tion,  but  very  little  of  any  kind  of  food  should  be  taken  ; 
perfect  rest,  in  bed  or  on  a  lounge,  should  be  observed. 
Next  in  importance  to  a  right  diet  is  bathing  the  whole  body 
with  tepid  water,  this  to  be  repeated  until  the  superficial 
heat  is  reduced  to  a  normal  standard.  For  the  local  treat¬ 
ment,  sitz-baths  of  tepid  or  cool  water,  varying  in  time  from 
fifteen  minutes  to  an  hour — changing  the  water,  if  neces¬ 
sary — will  afford  decided  relief.  The  sitz-bath  should  be  re¬ 
peated  as  often  as  the  inflammatory  symptoms  are  aggra¬ 
vated.  When  resting,  the  genital  parts  should  be  enveloped 
in  wet  cloths. 

In  women,  in  addition  to  the  above,  vaginal  injections  of 
tepid  water  should  be  used  often. 

The  adoption  of  the  above  mode  of  treatment  will  effect 


328 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


a  prompt  and  permanent  cure,  when  a  drug-treatment,  with 
its  calomel,  sugar  of  lead,  caustic,  copaiba,  cubebs,  turpen¬ 
tine,  etc.,  will  not  only  aggravate  the  disease,  but  perhaps 
produce  gleet,  buboes  or  stricture. 

Gleet.  When  an  attack  of  gonorrhoea  is  badly  treated, 
and  not  thoroughly  cured,  there  may  follow  immediately,  or 
perhaps  not  until  after  an  interval  of  several  weeks  or  even 
months,  a  thin,  watery  discharge  from  the  urethra,  which  is 
termed  gleet.  This  discharge  may  continue  for  months,  and 
in  many  cases  for  years.  In  most  cases  of  gleet  the  dis¬ 
charge  is  the  only  symptom.  In  some  instances,  however, 
there  may  be  a  feeling  of  uneasiness  in  the  organ  or  perito¬ 
neum,  or  an  itching  about  the  glands,  which  may  either  be 
constant  or  attendant  only  upon  the  passage  of  the  urine. 
In  some  cases  the  discharge  is  constant,  and  sufficiently  co¬ 
pious  to  stain  the  linen,  but  in  the  majority  it  is  perceptible 
only  in  the  morning  on  rising.  It  is  a  well-established  fact, 
that  persons  infected  with  gleet  will  communicate  gonor¬ 
rhoea  to  healthy  subjects,  and  that  by  aggravation  gleet  is 
readily  transformed  into  gonorrhoea.  A  hearty  meal,  alco¬ 
holic  stimulants,  sexual  indulgence,  violent  exercise,  expo¬ 
sure  to  sudden  changes  of  temperature,  may  bring  on  a  co¬ 
pious  purulent  discharge,  attended  by  tumefaction  of  the 
parts,  scalding  in  urination,  and  all  the  symptoms  of  acute 
gonorrhoea. 

In  the  treatment  of  gleet  the  directions  for  general  treat¬ 
ment  in  gonorrhoea  should  be  adopted.  For  the  local  treat¬ 
ment  the  sitz-bath  is  indicated.  Commencing  with  tepid 
water,  which  will  slightly  increase  the  discharge  at  first,  the 
temperature  should  be  daily  lowered,  so  that  at  the  end  of  a 
week  very  cold  water  may  be  used.  This  bath  may  be  ap¬ 
plied  two  or  three  times  a  day,  fifteen  to  twenty  minutes  at 
a  time.  The  case  of  a  gentleman  who  had  gleet  at  this  mo¬ 
ment  occurs  to  me.  It  had  been  of  some  two  years’  dura¬ 
tion,  the  patient  having  tried  the  best  physicians  in  vain. 
Drugs,  applications  and  injections  of  all  kinds  had  been 


DISEASES  PECULIAR  TO  MEN. 


329 


tried,  only  to  make  the  discharge  seem  worse,  The  patient 
had  the  offer  of  a  sea  trip  on  a  sailing  vessel,  which  he  ac¬ 
cepted.  The  trip  lasted  for  nearly  three  months,  during 
which  time,  owing  to  peculiar  circumstances,  the  food  was 
not  only  of  the  plainest  in  quality,  but  of  the  smallest  in 
quantity.  The  patient  landed  in  better  health  than  he  had 
for  a  long  time  experienced,  and  entirely  cured  of  his  gleet. 

I  mention  this  case  simply  to  show  that  in  this  disease,  as  in 
almost  all  others  of  a  sexual  nature,  if  the  patient  would 
adopt  a  line  of  life  involving  in  it  pure  air  and  plenty  of  it, 
simple  diet  and  little  of  it,  rest,  cleanliness  of  body,  freedom 
from  tobacco,  alcoholic  liquors,  and  sexual  intercourse,  it 
would  absolutely  be  all  that  would  be  required  to  cure  him 
of  his  disease  and  restore  him  to  perfect  health. 

Phimosis.  When  the  prepuce  or  skin  is  in  such  a  con¬ 
dition  as  to  prevent  its  being  drawn  behind  the  glans,  the 
disease  is  called  phimosis.  It  may  be  congenital,  or  result 
from  inflammation  or  obstruction.  When  the  affection  is 
congenital,  the  cure  is  effected  by  dividing  the  prepuce,  or 
performing  circumcision.  When  it  is  caused  by  an  inflam¬ 
matory  engorgement,  a  prompt  reducing  of  the  inflamma¬ 
tion,  by  the  application  of  alternate  warm  and  cold-water 
dressings,  is  desirable.  The  system  should  be  kept  free 
from  feverishness  by  bathing,  and  the  bowels  should  be 
moved  by  copious  enemas  of  tepid  water. 

Paraphimosis.  When  the  prepuce  has  been  drawn  or 
forced  above  and  behind  the  glans,  and  cannot  be  drawn 
over  it,  the  disease  is  called  paraphimosis.  Persons  having 
phimosis  may  draw  the  prepuce  violently  behind  the  base 
of  the  glans  without  being  able  to  replace  it,  thus  inducing 
paraphimosis.  After  the  lapse  of  a  few  hours  or  days,  the 
parts  behind  and  in  front  of  the  stricture  become  swollen, 
when  ulceration  or  gangrene  may  follow,  and  perhaps  relieve 
the  stricture,  but  with  an  unnecessary  loss  of  tissue.  Para¬ 
phimosis  is  sometimes  met  with  in  boys,  as  the  result  of 
their  first  attempt  to  expose  the  glands.  The  first  indica- 


330 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


tion  in  the  treatment  is  to  reduce  the  inflammation  as  in 
phimosis,  to  be  followed  by  an  attempt  to  reduce  the  stran- 
'  gulation  by  compressing  the  glans,  and  carrying  the  prepuce 
over  it  to  its  normal  position.  Failing  in  this,  the  last  resort 
is  to  excise  the  ring  causing  the  strangulation. 

Strictures  of  the  urethra  may  be  classified  as  transitory  or 
permanent — transitory  when  the  result  of  muscular  spasm, 
congestion  or  inflammation — permanent  when  through  wrong 
treatment  there  is  produced  a  permanent  thickening  and 
contraction  of  the  urethral  canal.  Transitory  stricture  of 
the  inflammatory  form  is  produced  by  gonorrhoea  and  its 
mal-treatment,  and  the  injudicious  use  of  catheters  or  bou¬ 
gies.  It  is  known  by  local  heat,  pain  or  swelling,  with  in¬ 
ability  to  urinate,  unless  with  extreme  pain.  When  of  the 
spasmodic  variety,  it  is  usually  seated  at  the  neck  of  the 
bladder.  It  may  be  induced  by  violent  exercise,  long  reten¬ 
tion  of  the  urine,  or  sexual  excesses.  Permanent  stricture 
may  be  located  in  any  part  of  the  urethra,  but  it  more  fre¬ 
quently  occurs  in  the  membraneous  and  bulbous  portions  of 
the  canal.  It  generally  comes  on  slowly  and  insidiously. 
The  individual  first  observes  a  few  drops  of  water  remain 
after  the  whole  seems  to  have  been  discharged,  then  notices 
a  fine  spiral  or  divided  stream,  and  lastly,  discharges  his 
urine  by  drops  only,  requiring  a  long  time  to  empty  the 
bladder.  It  occasionally  happens  that  the  patient  loses  all 
control,  and  the  urine  dribbles  away  continually.  The  usual 
methods  in  treating  stricture  are  by  the  introduction  of  bou¬ 
gies,  the  application  of  caustic,  or  by  incision — all  impossible 
in  the  home-treatment  of  the  disease.  If  the  patient  will 
but  firmly  resolve  to  lead  a  rigidly  plain  and  simple  life — ab¬ 
solute  freedom  from  all  stimulating  food  and  drink,  tobacco, 
flesh-meat,  etc.,  eating  less  of  plain  food  than  the  system  is 
capable  of  assimilating,  living  a  strictly  continent  life,  and, 
along  with  the  every-day  general  bath,  to  take  twice  a  day, 
for  half  an  hour  at  a  time,  a  cool  or  cold-water  sitz-bath, 
drinking  nothing  but  pure  water,  and  as  much  of  it  as  may 


/ 


DISEASES  PECULIAR  TO  MEN.  331 

be  desired — he  will,  in  the  course  of  from  one  to  three 
months,  be  thoroughly  cured  of  transitory  stricture,  and  in 
from  four  to  twelve  months — depending  much  on  the  pre¬ 
vious  habits  of  the  individual — he  will  be  cured  of  perma¬ 
nent  stricture,  and  that  without  any  of  the  dangers  or  after¬ 
results  attendant  on  the  introduction  of  bougies,  caustics, 
etc.  The  very  worst  cases  of  permanent  stricture,  after  long 
trials  and  failures  with  bougies,  etc.,  have  in  this  way  been 
permanently  removed  and  effectually  cured. 

Swelled  testicle  is  one  of  the  most  frequent  complications 
of  gonorrhoea  of  the  urethra.  Before  the  commencement  of 
the  tenderness  and  swelling,  there  is  sometimes  felt  a  dull 
pain  in  the  peritoneum  and  in  the  groin.  As  a  rule,  dwelled 
testicle  may  be  said  to  supervene  on  gonorrhoea  after  the 
fourth  or  fifth  week.  It  always  disappears  on  the  effective 
cure  of  the  gonorrhoea. 

Inflammation  of  the  prostate  gland  is  another  result  of 
mal-treatment  of  gonorrhoea.  The  gland — a  small  body 
about  the  size  of  a  chestnut,  situated  before  the  neck  of  the 
bladder — is  enlarged,  causing  a  frequent  desire  to  urinate; 
the  stream,  being  generally  quite  small,  is  only  forced  out  by 
prolonged  straining,  and  excites  a  severe  scalding  sensation 
in  the  deeper  portion  of  the  canal.  Complete  retention  of 
the  urine  sometimes  occurs,  requiring  the  use  of  the  cathe¬ 
ter.  Tepid  and  cold  hip-baths,  with  moderate  quantities  of 
dry  food,  along  with  other  hygienic  requirements,  are  all 
that  is  necessary  to  perfect  a  cure. 

Inflammation  of  the  bladder  is  attributable  to  the  same 
cause  as  the  preceding.  The  inflammation  is  almost  always 
confined  to  the  neck  of  the  bladder,  causing  difficult  urina¬ 
tion  and  a  frequent  desire  to  urinate.  The  treatment  is  the 
same  as  in  inflammation  of  the  prostate  gland. 

Vegetations  are  papillary  growths,  identical  in  their  nature 
with  warts,  which  appear  on  different  parts  of  the  integu¬ 
ment,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  genital  organs.  They  are 
most  frequently  met  with  on  the  mucus  membrane  covering 


332 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


the  glands  and  lining  of  the  prepuce,  upon  the  margin  of 
the  urethra,  upon  the  vulva  in  women,  and  occasionally  upon 
the  neck  of  the  uterus.  They  are  in  no  way  connected  with 
venereal  disease,  though  they  are  most  frequently  observed 
in  those  who  have  been  affected  with  gonorrhoea  or  syphilis. 
The  treatment  consists  in  their  removal  by  the  knife,  caustic 
or  ligature.  The  best  mode  of  destroying  them  is  by  that 
of  caustic,  and  the  best  caustic  for  the  purpose  is  nitric 
acid. 

The  chancroid.  By  the  chancroid  is  meant  the  “  simple,” 
“  soft,”  “  non-infecting,”  or  “  non-indurated  chancre”  of  va¬ 
rious  authors.  It  is  a  contagious  and  local  ulcer  of  the  geni¬ 
tals.  In  the  comparison  of  the  three  poisons  of  gonorrhoea, 
the  chancroid  and  syphilis,  Bumstead,  in  his  “Venereal  Dis¬ 
eases,”  says  : 

“  The  only  property  common  to  them  all  is  their  commu¬ 
nication,  for  the  most  part,  by  contact  with  the  genital  or¬ 
gans.  The  poisons  of  gonorrhoea  and  of  the  chancroid  are 
alike,  in  that  their  action  is  limited  and  never  extends  to  the 
general  system ;  nor  does  one  attack  afford  the  slightest  pro¬ 
tection  against  a  second.  They  differ  in  that  the  poison  of 
gonorrhoea  may  arise  spontaneously,  while  that  of  the  chan¬ 
croid,  so  far  as  we  know,  never  thus  originates  ;  that  gonor¬ 
rhoea  chiefly  affects  the  surface — true  ulceration  being  rarely 
induced — and,  in  its  complications,  most  frequently  attacks 
parts  connected  with  the  original  seat  of  the  disease  by  a 
continuous  mucus  surface,  as  the  prostate  gland,  bladder  and 
testicles  ;  while  the  chancroid,  on  the  contrary,  is  an  ulcer 
involving  the  whole  thickness  of  the  integument  or  mucus 
membrane,  and  its  complications  are  seated  in  the  absorbent 
vessels  and  ganglia.  It  would  also  appear  that  the  poisons 
of  these  two  affections  are  limited  to  one  common  vehicle — 
namely,  pus.  This  conclusion  is  sustained  by  the  fact  that 
neither  the  poison  of  gonorrhoea  nor  that  of  the  chancroid 
ever  reaches  the  general  circulation,  and  it  is  well  known 
that  pus  globules  are  not  capable  of  absorption.  When  the 


DISEASES  PECULIAR  TO  MEN. 


333  ' 


purulent  matter  of  a  chancroid  enters  the  absorbent  vessels, 
as  occurs  in  the  formation  of  a  virulent  bubo,  it  is  arrested 
by  the  first  chain  of  lymphatic  ganglia,  and  goes  no  further. 
The  syphilitic  virus  is  alone  capable  of  infecting  the  system 
at  large,  and  of  affording  protection  by  its  presence  against 
subsequent  attacks.  Unlike  the  poisons  of  gonorrhoea  and 
the  chancroid,  it  is  not  limited  to  purulent  matter,  but  exists 
in  the  blood,  in  the  fluids  of  secondary  lesions,  in  the  se¬ 
men,  and  probably  in  other  secretions.  There  is  no  opposi¬ 
tion  whatever  between  these  three  poisons  ;  they  may  all  co¬ 
exist  in  the  same  person,  who  may  at  the  same  time  have 
gonorrhoea,  a  chancroid,  and  a  chancre  of  the  syphilitic  le- 
sion. 

The  chancroid  arises  only  in  consequence  of  contagion 
from  its  like.  It  is  most  generally  found  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  genital  organs,  although  it  is  sometimes  found  in  urethra, 
vagina  and  rectum,  or  wherever  there  is  a  mucus  surface. 
It  is  rarely  met  on  the  head  or  face,  where,  on  the  contrary, 
the  initial  lesion  of  syphilis  is  not  uncommon.  The  vehicle 
of  the  chancroid  virus  is  the  secretion  of  the  ulcer,  which,  if 
it  be  inserted  beneath  the  epidermis  of  any  other  part  of  the 
body,  a  chancroid  is  equally  the  result. 

The  following  are  the  symptoms  of  a  chancroid  when  fully 
formed  : 

“  Its  outline  is  circular,  unless  modified  by  the  shape  of 
the  solution  of  continuity  in  which  it  is  implanted ;  it  has  a 
punched-out  appearance;  the  edges  are  jagged,  abrupt  and 
sharply  cut,  and  do  not  adhere  closely  to  the  subadjacent 
tissues ;  the  fluid  secretion  is  copious  and  purulent,  and  it  is 
surrounded  by  an  areola  which  varies  in  width  and  depth  of 
color  with  the  degree  of  inflammation  present.  They  are 
more  frequently  multiple  than  single  ;  but  when  one  chan¬ 
croid  appears  at  the  outset  as  the  immediate  result  of  con¬ 
tagion,  others  are  apt  to  spring  up  around  it  from  successive 
inoculation,  since  the  original  ulcer  pours  out  an  abundant 
secretion,  and  its  presence  confers  immunity  against  others.’* 


334 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE . 


In  the  treatment  of  chancroid,  prompt  attention  to  the 
general  health  of  the  individual  is  almost  all  that  is  required, 
for  the  disease  being  a  self-limited  one,  it  will  get  well  in  the 
absence  of  all  treatment,  other  than  that  of  perfect  cleanli¬ 
ness  of  the  parts.  But  when  not  promptly  attended  to,  by 
the  adoption  of  a  strict  diet  of  plain  food  and  bathing,  it  is 
apt  to  be  followed  by  a  bubo.  If  the  pustule  is  noticed  the 
second  or  third  day  after  contagion,  it  can  be  destroyed  by 
burning  with  nitrate  of  silver  ;  but  after  this  time — say,  with¬ 
in  from  three  to  six  days — nitrate  of  silver  will  be  too  feeble, 
and  it  will  require  the  application  of  a  much  more  powerful 
caustic,  as  nitric  or  sulphuric  acid,  applied  by  means  of  a 
glass  rod  with  a  rounded  extremity,  although  a  simple  piece 
of  wood — as  an  ordinary  lucifer  match — will  do.  On  the 
acid  first  touching  the  ulcer,  the  pain  for  an  instant  will  be 
very  severe,  but  it  becomes  much  less  acute  on  subsequent 
applications,  of  which  there  should  be  several  to  render  the 
destruction  complete.  Great  care  must  be  taken  to  prevent 
the  acid  from  touching  the  neighboring  surfaces,  which 
should  be  protected  by  dry  lint  or  other  material.  When  it 
is  too  late  to  apply  the  acid,  cloths  wet  in  water  should  be 
kept  on  the  parts  affected,  and  often  changed.  When  the 
application  of  acid  has  produced  suppuration,  the  wet  (linen) 
cloths  should  also  be  employed.  This,  with  the  perfect 
cleanliness  of  the  parts,  and  perfect  cleanliness  of  the  cloths 
used,  and  careful  attention  to  the  general  health,  will  always 
result  in  a  cure. 

Chancroids  may  occur  upon  the  integuments  of  the  penis, 
in  the  urethra,  near  the  meatus,  on  the  female  generative  or¬ 
gans,  and  on  the  anus  and  rectum.  The  treatment,  except 
where  they  cannot  be  got  at,  is  similar  to  that  recommended 
above. 

Bilboes.  This  is  an  affection  of  the  lymphatic  ganglion, 
dependent,  in  the  great  majority  of  cases,  upon  the  presence 
of  a  chancroid,  although  they  may  be  caused  by  gonorrhoea 
or  sexual  excess.  A  bubo,  with  a  primary  syphilitic  sore, 


DISEASES  PECULIAR  TO  MEN. 


335 


4* 

or  chancre,  which  is  accompanied  by  induration  of  the  gan¬ 
glia,  which  never  suppurate  unless  under  the  influence  of 
some  additional  exciting  cause.  The  occurrence  of  buboes 
is  favored  by  a  scrofulous  constitution,  by  wrongly-treated 
chancroids,  by  mechanical  violence,  undue  exercise,  excesses 
in  diet,  and  by  sexual  intercourse  during  the  existence  of  a 
chancroid  or  gonorrhoea. 

Bumstead  divides  buboes  into  three  classes  :  first,  the  sim¬ 
ple ,  inflammatory  bubo ,  the  symptoms  of  which  are  a  swelling 
in  the  groin,  attended  with  tenderness  on  pressure  and  pain, 
which  is  aggravated  by  pressure  or  the  standing  posture. 
The  gland  is  felt  to  be  somewhat  enlarged,  but  is  still  mov¬ 
able  beneath  the  integument,  which  preserves  its  normal 
color.  This  condition  may  last  for  an  indefinite  period — du¬ 
ring  the  continuation  of  the  ulcer,  or  even  after  its  cicatriza¬ 
tion,  and  yet  finally  disappear  without  suppuration.  In  sim¬ 
ple  inflammatory  bubo,  most  frequently,  only  one  gland  is 
affected  ;  if  others  are  involved,  they  are  commonly  so  to  a 
less  degree.  In  less  fortunate  cases,  the  inflammatory  symp¬ 
toms  increase  in  severity ;  the  tumor  acquires  larger  dimen¬ 
sions,  and  becomes  adherent  to  the  skin  and  underlying  fas¬ 
cia,  so  that  it  is  no  longer  movable ;  the  pain  and  tenderness 
are  increased  ;  motion  is  difficult ;  the  skin  becomes  red¬ 
dened  ;  suppuration  is  ushered  in  with  a  chill ;  the  presence 
of  matter  is  indicated  by  a  soft  spot  in  the  midst  of  the  gen¬ 
eral  hardness,  and  soon  after  by  distinct  fluctuation ;  and  al¬ 
though  resolution  is  still  possible,  yet  commonly  the  con¬ 
tents  of  the  abscess  are  discharged  through  an  opening  in 
the  integument  formed  by  the  process  of  ulceration. 

Second,  the  virulent  buboy  which  receives  its  name  from 
the  fact  that  the  pus  which  it  contains  is  contagious,  and  will 
upon  artificial  inoculation  give  rise  to  a  chancroid.  A  vir¬ 
ulent  bubo  is  due  to  the  absorption  of  virus  from  the  surface 
of  a  chancroid,  and  its  conveyance,  by  means  of  the  lym¬ 
phatics,  to  the  ganglion.  It  is  usually  situated  on  the  same 
side  as  the  chancroid,  but  sometimes  upon  the  opposite  side, 


336 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


and  sometimes  both  groins  are  affected,  especially  when  the 
ulcer  is  upon  any  part  in  the  median  line.  Prior  to  its  spon¬ 
taneous  or  artificial  opening,  the  course  of  a  virulent  bubo 
is  that  of  a  simple  bubo,  and  the  patient  should  understand 
that  the  early  symptoms  of  the  two  are  identical ;  though 
the  distinction  between  them  is  fully  justified  by  the  inevi¬ 
table  suppuration  and  specific  properties  of  the  one,  and  the 
possible  resolution  and  simple  character  of  the  other. 

Third,  the  indolent  bubo ,  the  inflammation  of  which  is  of 
a  subacute  character,  closely  resembling  the  well-known 
scrofulous  inflammation  of  the  glands  of  the  neck  in  chil¬ 
dren.  There  may  be  a  moderate  amount  of  pain,  tender¬ 
ness  on  pressure,  and  difficulty  of  motion,  although  these 
are  rarely  severe  or  of  long  continuance.  The  tumor  very 
slowly  enlarges,  perhaps  to  the  size  of  a  hen’s  egg ;  the  skin 
covering  it  becomes  thin,  and  of  a  livid  red  color,  and  fluc¬ 
tuation  can  be  detected  without  being  ushered  in  by  chills 
and  fevers,  as  in  the  case  of  inflammatory  bubo.  After  a 
time  several  openings  form  spontaneously,  and  there  escapes 
a  thin,  flaky,  watery-looking  fluid. 

The  object  to  be  aimed  at  in  the  treatment  of  buboes  is 
to  subdue  inflammation  and  avert  suppuration,  if  possible. 
To  this  end,  perfect  rest  and  a  low  diet  of  plain,  simple  food 
is  of  the  first  importance.  In  the  early  stages,  cold  w'et 
cloths,  frequently  renewed,  should  be  constantly  kept  on  the 
swelling.  Three  or  four  times  a  day  the  parts  may  be  fo¬ 
mented  for  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes  at  a  time,  and  then  im¬ 
mediately  after  covered  with  cold  wet  cloths,  over  which  dry 
ones  should  be  placed.  Twice  a  day  a  sitz-bath,  moderately 
cool,  may  be  employed.  The  close  observance  of  these 
rules  in  the  early  stages  will  certainly  prevent  suppuration  ; 
but  should  the  bubo  indicate  by  its  tenseness  and  throbbing 
pain  the  commencement  of  suppuration,  warm  wet  cloths 
should  be  constantly  employed  until  matter  forms,  when,  if 
the  abscess  does  not  open  spontaneously,  it  should  be  cut 
with  a  lancet. 


DISEASES  PECULIAR  TO  MEN. 


337 


Syphilis.  This  disease  is  propagated  in  various  ways,  but 
in  most  cases  it  depends  principally  upon  sexual  intercourse. 
Being  an  infectious  disease,  the  presence  of  the  virus,  when 
brought  in  contact  with  surfaces  covered  with  thin  epidermis, 
or  when  denuded  of  its  cuticle,  it  is  transmitted  from  one  in¬ 
dividual  to  another. 

After  contagion,  there  follows  what  is  called  the  period  of 
incubation.  This  period  continues  until  the  first  indication 
of  a  sore — the  future  chancre — and  lasts  from  ten  to  twenty 
days.  The  first  noticeable  symptoms  after  infection  are  a 
sense  of  heat  and  tenderness  of  the  urethra,  slight  inflam¬ 
matory  condition  of  the  head  of  the  organ,  smarting  sensa¬ 
tion  after  urinating,  and  after  a  time  the  appearance  of  a  mi¬ 
nute  red  and  hard  pimple — the  chancre.  When  the  chancre 
is  on  the  internal  surface  of  the  prepuce,  and  so  protected 
from  the  air  and  friction,  “  it  has  a  circular  but  sometimes 
irregular  outline.  Its  surface  is  smooth,  often  looking  as  if 
polished,  destitute  of  the  consistent  and  adherent  exudation 
of  the  chancroid,  and  of  a  red  or  grayish  color.  Its  secre¬ 
tion  is  a  clear  serum — free  from  pus  globules,  unless  the  sore 
has  been  irritated — which  may  often  be  seen  issuing  from 
minute  pores,  after  the  previous  moisture  has  been  wiped 
away.  It  has  no  surrounding  areola,  and  leaves  no  cicatrix 
to  mark  its  site.  When  situated  upon  the  external  integu¬ 
ment,  as  the  sheath  of  the  organ — where  most  venereal  ul¬ 
cers  are  chancres — and  exposed  to  the  air,  it  becomes  cov¬ 
ered  with  scabs,  which  give  it  the  appearance  of  a  pustule  of 
ecthyma,  or  a  patch  of  scaly  eruption,  and  which  may  read¬ 
ily  lead  to  an  error  in  diagnosis.” 

In  the  primary  indications  of  venereal  disease — involving 
as  much  as  they  often  do  of  the  character  and  future  health 
of  the  individual — great  care  is  required  in  deciding  the  true 
nature  of  the  existing  ulcer.  The  chancroid  is  apt  to  be 
taken  for  the  chancre  of  syphilis,  and  vice  versa.  This  can 
be  avoided  by  a  close  comparison  of  the  character  of  both. 
The  following  table,  by  Dr.  Bumstead,  gives  the  diagnostic 

22 


338 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


characters  of  the  chancroid  and  chancre  in  a  manner  that  is 
clear  and  easily  understood  : 

DIAGNOSTIC  CHARACTERS  OF  THE  CHANCROID  AND 

CHANCRE. 


THE  CHANCROID. 

ORIGIN. 

Always  derived  from  a  chancroid  or  virulent 
bubo. 

Has  no  period  of  incubation. 

ANATOMICAL  CHARACTERS. 

Generally  multiple,  either  from  the  first  or  by 
successive  inoculation. 

An  excavated  ulcer,  perforating  the  whole 
thickness  of  the  skin  or  mucus  membrane. 


Edges  abrupt  and  well-defined,  as  if  cut  with 
a  punch,  not  adhering  closely  to  subjacent 
tissues. 

Surface  flat  but  uneven,  “worm  eaten,” 
wholly  covered  with  grayish  secretion. 

No  induration  of  base,  unless  caused  by 
caustic  or  other  irritant,  or  by  simple  in¬ 
flammation,  in  which  case  the  engorge¬ 
ment  is  not  circumscribed,  shades  off  into 
surrounding  tissues,  and  is  of  temporary 
duration. 

PATHOLOGICAL  TENDENCIES. 

Secretion  copious  and  purulent,  auto-inocu- 
lable. 


Slow  in  healing.  Often  spreads  and  takes  on 
phagedenic  action. 

May  affect  the  same  person  an  indefinite 
number  of  times. 

CHARACTERISTIC  GLAND  AFFECTION. 
Ganglionic  reaction  absent  in  the  majority 
of  cases.  When  present,  one  gland  acutely 
inflamed  and  generally  suppurates.  Pus 
often  inotulable,  producing  a  chancroid. 

PROGNOSIS. 

Always  a  local  affection,  and  cannot  infect  the 
system. 


THE  CHANCRE. 

ORIGIN. 

Always  derived  from  a  chancre  or  syphilitic 
lesion. 

Has  a  period  of  incubation. 

ANATOMICAL  CHARACTERS. 

Generally  single ;  multiple,  if  at  all,  from  the 
first ;  rarely,  if  ever,  by  successive  inocula¬ 
tion. 

Frequently  a  superficial  erosion ;  not  i  nvolv- 
ing  the  whole  thickness  of  the  skin  or  mu¬ 
cus  membrane,  of  a  red  color,  and  nearly  on 
a  level  with  the  surrounding  surface.  Some¬ 
times  an  ulcer,  when  its 

Edges  are  sloping,  hard,  often  elevated,  and 
adhere  closely  to  subjacent  tissues. 

Surface  hollowed  or  scooped  out,  smooth, 
sometimes  grayish  at  centre. 

Induration  firm,  cartilaginous,  circumscribed, 
movable  upon  tissues  beneath.  Sometimes 
resembles  a  layer  of  parchment  lining  the 
sore.  Generally  persistent  for  a  long  pe¬ 
riod 

PATHOLOGICAL  TENDENCIES. 

Secretion  scanty,  chiefly  serous;  inoculable 
with  great  difficulty,  if  at  all,  upon  the  pa¬ 
tient,  or  upon  any  person  under  the  syphi¬ 
litic  diathesis. 

Less  indolent  than  the  chancroid.  Pha¬ 
gedena  rarely  supervenes  and  is  generally 
limited. 

One  attack  affords  complete  or  partial  pro¬ 
tection  against  a  second. 

CHARACTERISTIC  GLAND  AFFECTION. 

All  the  superficial  inguinal  ganglia,  on  one 
or  both  sides,  enlarged  and  indurated ; 
distinct  from  each  other,  freely  .movable ; 
painless,  and  rarely  suppurate.  Pus  never 
inoculable. 

PROGNOSIS. 

A  constitutional  affection.  Secondary  symp¬ 
toms,  unless  prevented  or  retarded  by  treat¬ 
ment,  declare  themselves  in  about  six 
weeks  from  the  appearance  of  the  sore, 
and  very  rarely  delay  longer  than  six 
months. 


DISEASES  PECULIAR  TO  MEN. 


339 


During  the  first  week — and  invariably  within  the  first 
three  weeks — of  the  ulcer,  induration  of  the  glands  of  the 
groin  takes  place,  forming  buboes,  and  so  insidiously  that 
the  patient  may  be  entirely  ignorant  of  them.  When  firm 
pressure  is  made  on  them,  there  is  a  feeling  of  slight  tender¬ 
ness,  but  not  of  severe  pain.  After  the  chancre  has  disap¬ 
peared,  the  induration  of  the  glands  will  remain  for  months, 
and  while  it  lasts  is  an  indication  of  the  previous  existence 
of  a  chancre.  A  syphilitic  bubo  differs  from  a  chancroid 
bubo  in  that  it  seldom  or  ever  suppurates. 

The  constitutional  symptoms  show  themselves  in  from  three 
to  five  months,  when,  if  the  patient  has  went  without  treat- 
.ment,  or  been  badly  treated,  there  will  be  noticed  a  general 
lassitude,  accompanied  by  headache  and  fleeting  pains  in 
various  parts  of  the  body  ;  slight  itching  and  tenderness  of 
the  scalp  ;  an  eruption  of  blotches  or  pimples  upon  the  skin; 
pustules  upon  the  hairy  scalp ;  eating  away  of  the  cartilages 
of  the  nose,  throat,  etc. 

In  the  treatment  of  syphilis,  the  “  regular”  way  has  been 
by  mercury  and  iodide  of  potassium,  which  has  and  ever 
will  result  in  harm  to  the  patient.  In  the  first  stages,  im¬ 
mediately  the  nature  of  the  sore  has  been  decided  to  be  a 
chancre,  the  patient  should  look  to  the  conditions  that  regu¬ 
late  his  general  system.  If  he  uses  tobacco  and  alcoholic 
liquors,  he  must  discard  them  completely.  He  should  avoid 
all  gross  and  stimulating  food,  and  all  manner  of  spices  and 
condiments,  as  well  as  tea,  coffee  and  chocolate.  He  should 
confine  his  diet  to  the  smallest  possible  quantity  of  ripe 
fruits,  bread  made  from  unbolted  wheat  flour,  cracked  corn, 
cracked  wheat,  etc.,  and  pure  water.  This  may  seem  a  rigid 
and  severe  initial  requirement  in  the  treatment,  but  as  it  is 
the  only  possible  way  of  assisting  Nature  to  throw  oft'  the 
poison,  the  patient  must  adopt  it  in  full  measure,  if  a  radical 
cure  is  earnestly  desired.  Next  in  importance  to  diet  is 
bathing.  Upon  rising  in  the  morning  the  patient  shoujd 
take  a  sitz-bath,  and  at  the  same  time  a  foot-bath.  The 


340 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


water  in  the  sitz-bath  should  be,  at  the  commencement,  of  a 
tepid  temperature,  and  gradually  lowered  until  it  is  cold — 
as  cold  as  the  patient  can  comfortably  bear  it  The  water 
of  the  foot-bath  should  be  warm,  and  increased  in  tempera¬ 
ture  until  it  becomes  hot.  At  the  close  of  the  bath  it  should 
never  be  neglected  to  dash  cold  water  on  the  feet,  or  dip 
them  for  a  moment  into  cold  water.  This  sitz  and  foot¬ 
bath  should  last  from  fifteen  to  thirty  minutes.  Between 
ten  and  eleven  o’clock,  A.M.,  this  hip  and  footh-bath  should 
be  repeated,  followed  by  a  general  bath  of  the  whole  body, 
given  thoroughly,  effectually  and  rapidly.  After  drying, 
thorough  friction  of  the  whole  body  by  the  hand,  from  five 
to  fifteen  minutes,  by  the  patient,  and,  if  convenient,  assisted 
by  an  assistant ;  this  should  on  no  account  be  neglected. 
Should  the  sun  shine,  allow  its  rays  to  fall  directly  on  the 
patient’s  nude  body  during  the  time  of  friction.  Before  go¬ 
ing  to  bed,  which  should  be  at  an  early  hour  in  the  evening, 
the  sitz-bath  should  be  repeated,  with  the  addition  that,  be¬ 
fore  it  is  taken,  cloths  wet  in  hot  water  should  be  wrapped 
around  the  loins,  half  way  down  the  thighs,  and  including 
the  generative  organs.  These  should  be  kept  on  until  there 
is  decided  redness  of  the  skin  after  taking  them  off,  to  be 
immediately  followed  by  the  sitz-bath,  the  water  of  which 
should  be,  as  already  mentioned,  of  a  tepid  temperature,  and 
gradually  increased  during  the  bath  to  as  low  a  temperature 
as  the  patient  can  bear  and  readily  react  after. 

If  the  bowels  are  costive  they  must  be  kept  open  by  ene¬ 
mas  of  water.  The  head  should  be  kept  cool  by  the  appli¬ 
cation  of  cold  wet  cloths.  The  mind  should  be  kept  free 
from  all  irritating  thoughts,  and  the  surroundings  should  be 
pleasant  and  enjoyable. 

If  these  directions  are  promptly  begun  and  faithfully  ob¬ 
served,  the  constitutional  indications  of  the  disease  will  be 
prevented  ;  and  the  continuance  of  this  plan  of  treatment 
for  months,  and  if  necessary  for  years,  will  effectually  erad¬ 
icate  the  disease  from  the  system. 


DISEASES  PECULIAR  TO  MEN. 


34i 


But  with  many,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  superficial  chan¬ 
cre — the  form  which  most  generally  precedes  syphilis — is  so 
indolent  and  so  insignificant  a  sore  that  it  may  readily  pass 
unnoticed,  or,  if  seen,  be  mistaken  for  a  mere  abrasion,  the 
constitutional  symptoms — heralded  in  by  headache,  giddi¬ 
ness,  diminished  mental  vigor,  uneasiness  about  the  neck, 
pains  in  the  joints,  and  weakness  of  the  legs — often  present 
themselves  before  the  patient  is  aware  that  the  poison  of 
syphilis  has  taken  hold  of  his  entire  body. 

When  this  has  occurred,  the  treatment  requires  a  closer 
observance  of  hygienic  laws,  and  a  very  much  longer  time 
to  effect  a  radical  cure.  The  remarks  as  to  diet  and  habits 
of  life  in  the  primary  indications,  apply  with  four- fold  force 
when  the  disease  is  constitutional.  Patients  who  acquire 
syphilis  have  almost  invariably  heretofore  led  wrong  lives — 
eating  too  much  and  wrong  kinds  of  food,  drinking  alcoholic 
liquors,  using  tobacco,  and  in  many  other  ways  being  irreg¬ 
ular  in  their  habits.  If  a  cure  is  desired — and  who  with 
syphilis  does  not  desire  a  cure  ? — a  prompt  and  radical 
change  must  be  adopted.  Tobacco  and  all  manner  of  stim¬ 
ulating  drinks  and  foods  must  be  shunned  ;  gluttony  must 
be  avoided,  making  it  a  rule  to  eat  only  to  live ;  general  hab¬ 
its  of  life  must  be  reconstructed,  and  a  plan  of  life  marked 
out,  the  close  observance  of  which  will  allow  the  vis  medic- 
atrix  nature 0  of  the  body  to  assert  its  all-healing  pres¬ 
ence. 

The  baths  should  consist  of  a  wet-sheet  pack  lasting  from 
fifteen  to  sixty  minutes,  according  to  the  feelings  of  the  pa¬ 
tient,  taken  daily  between  the  hours  of  eight  and  nine  in  the 
morning.  At  between  eleven  and  twelve  o’clock  the  daily 
towel  or  sponge-bath  should  be  taken,  followed  by  friction 
and  the  air  and  sun-bath  ;  and  three  times  a  week,  an  hour 
or  so  before  going  to  bed,  a  sitz-bath,  together  with  the  hot 
water  foot-bath. 

Abundant  exercise — when  possible,  in  the  open  air — should 
always  be  had. 


342 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


Great  care  must  be  employed  in  keeping  surface-sores 
perfectly  clean,  and  all  cloths,  water,  etc.,  used  about  them 
should  be  handled  with  great  care,  as  the  exuding  virulent 
matter,  even  when  diluted,  is  capable,  when  brought  into 
contact  with  any  abraded  surface,  of  propagating  the  dis¬ 
ease. 

To  free  the  system  entirely  of  the  disease,  it  may  be  nec¬ 
essary  to  follow  up  this  line  of  treatment  for  years.  Day 
after  day,  month  after  month,  and  year  after  year,  the  pa¬ 
tient  should  never  neglect  to  closely  follow  all  the  require¬ 
ments  necessary  to  the  regaining  of  a  clean,  sweet,  healthy 
body,  free  from  the  faintest  syphilitic  taint. 

It  is  the  opinion  of  many  that  a  few  doses  of  mercury,  in 
some  one  of  its  many  forms,  will  cure  syphilis.  This  is  a 
great  error.  Mercury  or  no  other  drug  ever  has  or  ever 
will  cure  syphilis — or,  for  that  matter,  any  other  disease. 
The  use  of  mercury  in  this  disease,  instead  of  curing  it,  sim¬ 
ply  for  a  time  prevents  its  outward  manifestation,  and  when 
the  peculiar  effect  of  the  mercurial  poison  has  weakened,  the 
syphilitic  poison — more  virulent  and  more  destructive  than 
ever — again  appears,  making  it  more  difficult  than  ever  for 
the  life-force  of  the  individual  to  get  rid  of  it.  Allowing 
two  persons  to  have  syphilis,  one  of  them  to  be  treated  with 
mercury,  and  the  other  without  mercury  or  any  treatment 
whatever,  I  would  in  the  end  much  rather  be  the  possessor 
of  the  constitution  of  the  individual  who  had  used  no  mer¬ 
cury  or  other  treatment,  than  that  of  the  one  who  had  used 
mercury. 

It  is  sometimes  asked,  in  the  case  of  persons  who  have 
had  syphilis,  how  soon  they  could  marry,  without  the  chance 
of  entailing  the  disease  on  their  offspring,  and  it  is  a  ques¬ 
tion  rather  difficult  to  decide.  If  the  disease  has  not  yet 
passed  into  the  constitutional  stage,  and  the  reform  plan  of 
treatment  here  given  be  adopted  and  faithfully  observed  for 
two  years,  I  think  the  system  of  a  naturally  strong  person 
would  in  this  time  be  entirely  free  from  the  taint  of  syphilis. 


DISEASES  PECULIAR  TO  MEN, \ 


343 


If  the  disease  has  passed  into  the  constitutional  stage,  and 
has  in  a  measure  destroyed  parts  of  the  body  by  ulceration, 
it  may  require  for  its  total  extinction  the  close  and  faithful 
observance  of  hygienic  and  reform  remedial  measures  for 
from  five  to  eight  years,  and  even  then  there  might  be 
doubts  of  its  non-transmissibility. 

Involuntary  nocturnal  emissions.  This  disorder,  so  wide¬ 
spread,  occurs  generally  at  night  during  sleep,  when  there  is 
an  involuntary  erection  of  the  organ,  followed  by  a  general 
genital  excitement  and  a  discharge  of  semen.  It  is  the  gen¬ 
eral  prevailing  opinion  that  if  these  involuntary  emissions 
do  not  occur  oftener  than  once  in  two  or  three  weeks,  no 
harm  to  the  individual  is  done,  the  emissions  acting  as  Na¬ 
ture’s  safety-valve.  Notwithstanding  all  that  physicians  and 
others  may  say  to  support  this  assertion,  it  is  a  great  error 
• — an  error  that  entails  on  the  individual,  sooner  or  later,  se¬ 
rious  constitutional  effects.  Should  the  emissions  occur  oft- 

m 

ener  than  this  the  symptoms  of  impairment  of  the  health  are 
more  pronounced.  The  morning  after  the  emission  the  first 
noticeable  symptoms  of  the  harm  done  the  body  are  a  pain 
above  the  eyes,  or  on  the  top  or  back  of  the  head  ;  eyes 
sensible  to  light ;  ringing  in  the  ears ;  tenderness  of  the 
spine  ;  weakness  of  the  back  ;  pain  in  the  legs,  from  the 
knees  to  the  ankles,  and  coldness  of  hands  and  feet.  He 
gradually  grows  into  vascillating  habits  of  thought  and  ac¬ 
tion,  weakening  his  will-power ;  continually  possessed  with 
doubts  and  fears  as  to  the  future  ;  irritable  in  temper,  and 
unhappy  in  all  his  social  relations. 

There  is  another  class  of  men — those  possessing  a  prepon¬ 
derance  of  the  vital  temperament — in  which  seminal  emis¬ 
sions  develop  a  different  train  of  symptoms,  such  as  dyspep¬ 
sia,  constipation,  torpid  liver,  and  diseased  state  of  the  skin, 
as  shown  by  the  eruption  on  the  face.  This  class  of^atients 
are  much  easier  to  cure  than  the  first  mentioned,  whose  ner¬ 
vous  system  is  primarily  involved.  A  noticeable  difference 
in  the  symptoms  between  these  two  types  is  in  the  loss  of 


344 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


memory — the  first  scarcely  ever  showing  a  loss  of  memory 
until  the  disease  has  progressed  almost  beyond  hopes  of  re¬ 
covery  ;  while  in  the  last,  dullness  of  perception  and  loss  of 
memory  is  one  of  the  first  indications  of  impairment  of  the 
constitution. 

The  causes  for  seminal  emissions  are  self-abuse  at  some 
time  of  life,  and  sexual  excesses  at  any  time  of  life,  or  it 
may  be  of  a  hereditary  nature.  The  disease  may  be  devel¬ 
oped  in  a  person  who  has  committed  sexual  excesses,  and 
who  never  has  practiced  masturbation.  The  prime  cause  is 
the  practice  of  self-abuse  at  some  time  of  life.  There  are 
many  married  men  who,  although  they  get  what  they  de¬ 
mand  sexually,  will  yet  have  seminal  emissions  while  occu¬ 
pying  the  same  bed  with  their  wives. 

Just  here  I  must  protest  against  the  often-advised  remedy 
for  involuntary  emissions  and  spermatorrhoea — namely,  that 
of  marriage.  A  man  having  these  diseases,  and  following 
out  this  advice,  will  soon  sorely  repent  of  the  deed,  and  be 
tempted  to  curse  his  adviser.  Marrying,  as  a  supposed  help 
to  a  cure,  implies  that  through  sexual  excess  or  legalized 
prostitution,  the  disease,  or  rather  the  involuntary  emissions, 
will,  through  voluntary  action,  be  diverted  into  a  possibly 
legitimate  channel.  This  is  not  only  a  great  error,  it  is  a 
great  sin — a  sin  and  wrong  done  the  man’s  own  body,  done 
the  woman  he  marries,  and  the  children  he  generates.  If 
he  have  children,  they  will  not  only  be  predisposed  to  the 
disease,  but  will  very  likely,  when  they  arrive  at  a  mar¬ 
riageable  age,  be  either  impotent  or  sterile.  No  man  hav¬ 
ing  seminal  emissions,  gonorrhoea,  consumption,  or  any  other 
disease,  should  marry,  or  even  in  the  remotest  way  think  of 
it,  until  he  recovers  fully  from  the  disease.  It  is  a  help  to  a 
cure,  in  the  man  having  this  disease,  to  court  the  society  of 
females,  enjoying  their  companionship,  living  purely  and 
chastely  in  their  presence — but  no  further ,  until  he  can  lay 
claim  to  a  perfect  manhood. 

In  the  cure  of  this  disease,  that  so  insidiously  destroys  the 


DISEASES  PECULIAR  TO  MEN. 


345 


intellect,  strength,  and  very  manhood  of  the  individual,  the 
first  great  requirement  in  its  successful  treatment  is  to  lead 
a  perfectly  continent  life.  If  he  be  married  or  not,  and  co¬ 
habits  little  or  much,  he  must  stop  it  at  once.  If  he  prac¬ 
tices  self-abuse,  he  must  also  stop  it  at  once.  The  next  re¬ 
quirement  is  to  follow  out  as  closely  as  possible  the  Plan  of 
Life  laid  down  in  a  former  chapter.  One  of  the  items  of 
this  plan  is  the  constant  exercise  of  the  will-power  in  every 
required  direction  necessary  to  a  cure — a  most  important 
adjunct,  and  one  that  can  be  used  with  much  effect  in  the 
permanent  prevention  of  emissions. 

“  In  waking  moments,  every  man  who  has  not  debased 
and  enervated  his  will  is  perfectly  able  to  keep  his  thoughts 
entirely  pure.  It  is  of  his  own  free  will  that  he  sins.  Hardly 
less  is  his  power  of  keeping  his  dreaming  thoughts  pure,  if 
he  goes  the  right  way  to  work.  Not  at  all  less  is  it  his  duty 
and  his  true  profit  to  endeavor  to  do  so.  Patients  assert 
that  they  cannot  control  their  dreams.  This  is  not  true. 
Those  who  have  studied  the  connection  between  thoughts 
during  waking  hours  and  dreams  during  sleep,  know  that 
they  are  closely  connected.  The  character  is  the  same  sleep¬ 
ing  or  waking.  It  is  not  surprising  that,  if  a  man  has  al¬ 
lowed  his  thoughts  during  the  day  to  rest  upon  libidinous 
subjects,  he  finds  his  mind  at  night  full  of  lascivious  dreams. 
— the  one  is  a  consequence  of  the  other,  and  the  nocturnal 
pollution  is  a  natural  consequence,  particularly  when  diurnal 
indulgence  has  produced  an  irritability  of  the  generative  or¬ 
gans.  A  will  which  in  our  waking  hours  we  have  not  exer¬ 
cised  in  repressing  sexual  desires,  will  not,  when  we  fall 
asleep,  preserve  us  from  carrying  the  sleeping  echo  of  our 
waking  thoughts  further  than  we  dared  to  do  in  the  day¬ 
time.  An  Italian  gentleman,  of  high  station  and  character, 
was  troubled  with  frequent  emissions,  which  totally  unnerved 
him.  Pie  determined,  resolutely,  that  the  first  time  any  li¬ 
bidinous  idea  presented  itself  to  his  imagination  he  wotild 
awake  ;  and,  to  insure  his  doing  so,  dwelt  in  his  thoughts  on 


34^ 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


his  resolution  for  a  long  time  before  going  to  sleep.  The 
remedy,  applied  by  a  vigorous  will,  had  the  most  happy  re¬ 
sults.  The  idea,  the  remembrance  of  its  being  a  danger ,  and 
the  determination  to  awake,  was  never  dissociated  even  in 
sleep,  and 'he  awoke  in  time;  and  this  reiterated  precaution, 
repeated  during  some  evenings,  absolutely  cured  the  com¬ 
plaint.” 

The  patient  should  never  eat  a  late  meal.  If  he  can  con¬ 
form  to  two  meals  a  day — the  last  one  at  two  or  three 
o’clock  in  the  afternoon — so  much  the  better ;  it  will  do  a 
great  deal  toward  helping  him  to  a  cure.  His  bowels  should 
be  freed  every  night  just  before  going  to  bed  ;  when  this 
cannot  be  done  naturally,  the  bowels  should  be  moved  by 
the  injection  of  tepid  water.  The  bladder  should  be  evacu¬ 
ated  once  or  twice  during  the  night.  The  mind  should  be 
kept  employed  during  the  day,  and  free  from  any  reading  or 
conversation  that  would  have  a  tendency  to  excite  the  ama¬ 
tory  feelings.  Daily  physical  exercise  should  never  be  neg¬ 
lected.  The  bed  or  pillows  should  not  be  of  feathers. 
Early  to  bed  should  be  the  rule,  and  to  rise  immediately  on 
waking  should  never  be  omitted.  To  prevent  lying  on  the 
back  during  sleep,  tying  a  towel  round  the  waist,  so  as  to 
bring  a  hard  knot  opposite  the  spine,  will  be  serviceable,  and 
of  itself  will  often  prevent  emissions.  The  close  observance 
of  these  rules,  and  especially  the  close  observance  of  the 
Plan  of  Life  already  referred  to,  will  enable  a  man  who  is 
troubled  with  nocturnal  seminal  pollution  to  cure  himself, 
and  regain  his  perfect  manhood.  It  is  a  fact  that  should 
impress  itself  on  the  mind  of  the  man  having  this  disease— 
that  as  long  as  he  has  seminal  emissions,  whether  they  occur 
frequently  or  at  comparatively  long  intervals,  just  so  long  is 
he  losing  from  the  fountain-head  of  his  system  the  etherial 
requisites  that  go  to  make  up  the  sum  of  his  growth  toward 
perfect  manhood  and  physical  perfection.  A  man  living  a 
pure,  chaste  and  continent  life,  exercising  his  sexual  nature 
only  for  the  purpose  of  reproduction  ;  abstaining  from  all 


DISEASES  PECULIAR  TO  MEN. 


34  7 


the  gross,  filthy  and  debasing  that  attaches  itself  to  the 
thought,  the  breath,  and  the  nourishment  of  modern  civili¬ 
zation,  will,  can,  does  live  a  life  the  span  of  which  may  stretch 
over  a  period  of  fifty,  seventy  or  a  hundred  years,  and  not 
have  one  single  nocturnal  emission.  This  is  as  Nature  in¬ 
tended  it,  as  God  ordained  it,  and  anything  differing  from 
this,  even  in  the  smallest  measure,  entails  on  the  doer  the 
penalty  attached  to  all  violated  laws. 

Diurnal  emissions  include  any  emission  of  semen,  volun¬ 
tary  or  involuntary,  occurring  during  the  waking  hours,  and 
not  necessarily  preceded  by  erection — the  immediate  exci¬ 
ting  cause  being  sexual  excitement,  defecation  or  micturi- 
tion.  This  condition  is  rare,  and  indicates  a  very  weak  state 
of  the  sexual  organism.  The  treatment  is  the  same  as  in 
nocturnal  emissions.  Great  care  must  be  taken  in  noticing 
the  nature  of  the  discharge,  and  not  to  confound  semen  with, 
the  secretion  of  the  prostate  and  other  glands.  It  is  just  at 
this  point  that  quack  doctors  frighten  nervous  individuals 
into  the  belief  that  the  fluid  they  occasionally  secrete  in  this 
way  is  the  true  semen,  and  so  extort  money  from  their  pa¬ 
tients,  and,  if  they  use  their  medicines,  ultimately  completely 
undermine  their  health. 

Spermatorrhoea.  When  involuntary  seminal  emissions — 
especially  if  connected  with  self-abuse  or  sexual  excesses — 
have  continued  for  some  time,  there  is  produced  in  the  indi¬ 
vidual  a  state  of  enervation,  a  weakening  of  the  life-force, 
characterized  as  spermatorrhoea.  The  ancients  evidently 
knew  something  of  this  disease,  for  Hippocrates,  in  describ¬ 
ing  a  disease  which  he  calls  tabes  dorsalis ,  says  : 

“  Tabes  dorsalis  proceeds  from  the  spinal  cord.  It  is  fre¬ 
quently  met  with  among  newly-married  people  and  liber¬ 
tines.  There  is  no  fever,  the  appetite  is  preserved,  but  the 
body  falls  away.  If  you  interrogate  the  patients,  they  will 
tell  you  that  they  feel  as  if  ants  were  crawling  down  the 
spine.  In  making  water  or  going  to  stool,  they  pass  much 
semen.  If  they  have  connection,  the  congress  is  fruitless. 


348 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


They  lose  semen  in  bed,  whether  they  are  troubled  with  las¬ 
civious  dreams  or  not ;  they  lose  it  on  horseback  or  in  walk¬ 
ing.  To  epitomize  :  they  find  their  breathing  become  diffi¬ 
cult,  they  fall  into  a  state  of  feebleness,  and  suffer  from 
weight  in  the  head  and  singing  in  the  ears.” 

The  symptoms  of  spermatorrhoea  are  well  described  by 
many  authors,  and  may  be  summed  up  in  the  following  fear¬ 
ful  catalogue  : 

“  Weakness  ;  emaciation  ;  listlessness  and  languor ;  dim¬ 
ness  of  vision  ;  mental  indolence  or  stupidity  ;  loss  of  mem¬ 
ory  ;  a  wandering  or  dreamy  state  of  the  mental  powers, 
with  inability  to  concentrate  the  mind  on  any  particular  ob¬ 
ject  or  pursuit ;  aversion  to  society,  especially  that  of  fe¬ 
males  ;  melancholy ;  indifference  to  ordinary  sports  and  so¬ 
cial  pleasures  ;  palpitations  of  the  heart ;  shortness  of  breath  ; 
coldness  of  the  extremities  ;  flushed  face  ;  cadaverous  ap¬ 
pearance  of  the  skin,  often  accompanied  with  a  peculiar  and 
very  disagreeable  odor ;  irritation,  uneasiness,  or  a  creeping 
sensation  in  the  spinal  marrow  ;  gnawing  at  the  stomach  ; 
voracious  appetite  ;  soft  and  flabby  flesh  ;  vacant  expression 
of  the  countenance,  etc. 

“  Some  of  the  above  symptoms  may  be  absent  in  a  given 
case,  but  the  majority  are  usually  noticeable.  In  some  cases 
the  patient  will  be  timid  and  confused  ;  easily  agitated  ;  dis¬ 
couraged  about  trifles  ;  annoyed  with  constant  apprehension 
of  indefinable  calamities  ;  especially  weak  in  the  loins,  back 
and  legs  ;  absent-minded,  querulous,  etc. 

“  Impotence,  loss  of  sexual  power  or  passion,  or  the  op¬ 
posite  extreme — constant  and  insatiable  desire,  convulsive 
and  epileptic  affections,  paralysis,  confirmed  dyspepsia,  ma¬ 
rasmus,  consumption,  mania  and  idiocy,  are  among  the  final 
and  fatal  consequences. 

“  In  a  great  number  of  individuals,  both  young  and  adult, 
an  enervated  state  of  the  body  exists,  which  the  profession, 
as  well  as  patients,  characterize  by  this  somewhat  vague 
term  of  spermatorrhoea,  which  is  as  peculiar  and  as  certainly 


DISEASES  PECULIAR  TO  MEN. 


349 


to  be  distinguished  by  its  own  symptoms  as  fever,  or  any 
other  general  disease.  Of  course,  many  a  man  has  believed 
himself  laboring  under  the  complaint  when  he  was  not. 
This  is  the  case  with  various  other  diseases.  There  is,  how¬ 
ever,  as  regards  this  particular  ailment,  an  additional  reason 
for  the  existence  of  much  hypochondriacal  fancy  about  it. 

‘  From  the  painful  stigma  which  its  existence  casts  on  the 
past  life  of  the  patient,  and  the  secresy  he  would  naturally 
desire,  as  well  as  from  the  somewhat  doubtful  nature  of  the 
symptoms  to  an  experienced  eye,  this  disease  has  been  and 
is  used  by  unprincipled  practitioners  as  a  means  of  imposi¬ 
tion  to  a  very  great  extent.  Every  disease  or  fancied  ail¬ 
ment  which  their  unfortunate  victim  can  be  persuaded  into 
believing  spermatorrhoea,  is  called  spermatorrhoea  forthwith; 
and,  in  the  agony  and  terror  of  humiliation,  the  wretched 
and  often  innocent  patient  becomes  a  fit  subject  for  the  wick¬ 
edest  cruelty,  and,  I  need  hardly  add,  the  most  extravagant 
extortion.” 

In  the  treatment  of  spermatorrhoea,  much  discrimination 
is  required  in  applying  rules  adapted  to  the  circumstances  of 
each  individual  case.  The  directions  given  for  the  cure  of 
nocturnal  seminal  emissions  are  applicable  here.  In  addi¬ 
tion  to  the  morning  towel  or  sponge-bath  on  rising,  followed 
by  friction,  at  noon,  between  eleven  and  twelve  o’clock,  a 
sitz-bath  of  from  ten  to  twenty  minutes,  in  cool  or  cold 
water,  should  be  taken  daily.  It  should  be  followed  by  fric¬ 
tion  and  the  sun  and  air-bath.  When  there  is  a  tendency  to 
coldness  of  feet  or  great  heat  of  head,  the  hot  foot-bath, 
followed  by  dipping  the  feet  for  a  moment  into  cold  water, 
should  be  employed  daily  at  bed-time.  A  faithful  and  per¬ 
sistent  observance  of  the  Plan  of  Life,  and  the  directions 
mentioned  in  connection  with  involuntary  seminal  emissions, 
and  the  above  simple  baths,  will,  unless  the  disease  has  made 
very  great  progress,  effect  a  rapid  and  permanent  cure. 

Miscellaneous  disorders  affecting  erection ,  emission  and  the 
semen.  There  are  morbid  states,  affecting  the  perfect  fulfill- 


350 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


ment  of  reproductive  requirements,  that  occasionally  happen 
and  give  rise  to  much  trouble.  I  will  briefly  enumerate 
some  of  them. 

Slow  erection  is  more  frequently  a  peculiarity  arising  from 
temperament  than  a  disorder.  Men  of  a  lymphatic  temper¬ 
ament  experience  this  symptom,  just  as  a  person  possessing 
a  highly  nervous  organization  experiences  the  reverse. 
Stimulants  of  any  nature,  intended  to  hasten  the  act,  will  do 
great  harm,  and  should  never  be  employed.  When  it  arises 
from  temperament,  no  interference  is  required.  Non-erec¬ 
tion  ^  when  not  caused  by  self-abuse  or  spermatorrhoea,  may 
be  the  result  of  intense  mental  application  ;  and,  when  so 
caused,  simply  refraining  from  brain-work  will  remedy  the 
trouble.  Imperfect  erection  is  understood  when  erection  may 
occur,  but  not  to  its  proper  extent ;  or,  when  it  does  take 
place,  it  lasts  so  short  a  time  that  intromission  of  the  male 
organ  is  impossible.  Premature  excitement  and  perversion 
of  energy  is  one  cause,  while  a  previous  habit  of  masturba¬ 
tion  is  very  often  the  underlying  cause.  A  careful  treat- 
-  ment  of  the  cause  will  easily  cure  the  disorder.  Irregular 
erections  occur  when,  through  violence  or  some  other  cause, 
inflammation  of  the  spongy  portion  of  the  urethra  takes 
place,  followed  by  a  deposit  of  plastic  lymph,  preventing  the 
natural  distension  of  the  part,  and  so  causing  a  curved  ap¬ 
pearance  of  the  organ  on  erection,  producing  great  pain 
while  it  lasts.  This  disorder  but  rarely  happens.  Priapism 
or  permanent  erection — erection,  instead  of  being  absent  or 
imperfect,  may  be  only  too  perfect  and  too  persistent,  re¬ 
maining  erect  either  permanently  or  during  long  periods. 
This  disorder  is  caused  by  some  peculiar  condition  of  the 
spinal  cord  and  brain.  It  may  also  be  caused  by  uncleanli¬ 
ness  of  the  parts  ;  sitz-baths  will  almost  always  effect  a  cjjre. 
The  parts  underneath  and  around  the  prepuce  should  always 
be  kept  clean.  In  a  man  whose  desire  it  is  to  lead  a  conti¬ 
nent  life,  the  daily  morning  and  evening  washing  of  this 
part  should  never  be  neglected.  Satyriasis. — “  Erection, 


DISEASES  PECULIAR  TO  MEN. 


35i 


again,  may  be  not  only  morbidly  frequent  and  persistent, 
but  connected  with  maniacal  sensuality  that  is  one  of  the 
most  awful  visitations  to  which  humanity  can  be  subject. 
Continual  erections,  immoderate  desire  for  connection,  and 
erotic  delirium,  have  been  given  as  the  definition  of  satyri¬ 
asis.  The  probable  explanation  of  such  aberration  is,  that 
the  brain  or  medulla  oblongata  has  received  some  injury 
from  excessive  indulgence  that  seems  irreparable.  A  low 
animal  organization,  with  a  strong  hereditary  disposition  to 
lust,  has  been  overtaxed  by  the  enormous  license  the  victim 
has  permitted  himself,  or  some  undetected  lesion  has  taken 
place,  which  puts  the  man  at  once  beyond  his  own  control, 
almost  out  of  the  category  of  rational  or  moral  agents,  and 
leaves  him  in  a  condition  in  which  there  seems,  indeed,  little 
hope  of  any  restoration.” 

Premature  ejaculation  is  one  of  the  most  common  sexual 
complaints  met  with.  “  Patients  complain  that  semen  is 
emitted  so  readily  that  if  they  even  converse  with  women, 
or  if  they  ride  on  horseback,  it  will  come  away ;  that  the 
friction  of  the  trowsers  will  often  be  sufficient  to  produce 
emission,  and  that  ejaculation  is  attended  with  scarcely  any 
spasm.  In  other  instances,  erection  is  hardly  complete  be¬ 
fore  emission  follows,  and  then,  as  the  erection  immediately 
ceases,  the  intended  intercourse  fails.”  The  causes  for  this 
disorder,  primarily,  are  that  the  parts  are  weakened  by  self¬ 
abuse  or  sexual  excess — while  nervousness,  want  of  will¬ 
power,  or  natural  impetuosity  may  be  the  immediate  cause ; 
uncleanliness  of  the  glands,  and  the  accumulation  of  smegma 
under  the  prepuce  are  also  prolific  causes.  The  remedy  is 
to  restore  and  strengthen  the  parts  by  the  means  already 
given,  and  the  living  of  a  continent  life. 

Non-emission.  A  man  may  be  able  to  have  connection, 
with  perfect  erection,  but  having  no  emission  following,  and 
no  feeling  of  pleasurable  sensation. 

“  Among  the  causes  of  this,  the  most  frequent,  perhaps, 
is  stricture,  often  of  old  standing.  In  such  a  case  the  me- 


35  2 


THE- SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE . 


chanical  obstruction  prevents  the  passage  of  the  semen,  and 
it  is  only  when  erection  has  passed  away  that  the  fluid  oozes 
out  In  very  severe  cases,  I  believe,  the  semen,  if  emitted, 
passes  back  into  the  bladder,  instead  of  forward,  and  may 
be  noticed  in  the  urine  in  the  form  of  a  thick,  viscous  sub¬ 
stance.  But  I  would  here  warn  the  reader  against  mistaking 
for  semen  all  deposits  observed  in  the  urine.  These  are  of 
the  most  miscellaneous  and  varying  composition.  Mucus 
from  the  bladder,  the  lithates,  the  phosphates,  produced  by 
a  variety  of  causes  which  this  is  not  the  place  to  inquire 
into,  and  which  only  a  medical  man  can  diagnose.  True 
semen  is  very  rarely  found  in  any  perceptible  quantity  de¬ 
posited  in  the  urine.”  Non-emission  may  also  be  caused  by 
a  want  of  consentaneous  action  between  emission  and  erec¬ 
tion,  or  by  complete  obstruction  of  the  vasa  deferentia. 
This  disorder,  as  a  rule,  requires  surgical  treatment. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 


MASTURBATION — ITS  CAUSE,  RESULTS  AND  CURE. 

OOKS  and  pamphlets  on  this 
subject,  in  great  numbers,  for 
scores  of  years  past,  have  been 
printed  and  widely  dissemi¬ 
nated  ;  and  yet,  if  we  are  to 
believe  those  physicians  and 
educators  whose  paths  lie 
across  the  records  of  deeds 
done  in  secret,  masturbation 
is  as  prevalent — and  perhaps 
more  so — in  our  day  as  in 

and  out  of  schools — females 
as  well  as  males — married  as 
well  as  single — are  to  be  found 
those  bearing  the  imprint  of  the  great  wrong  done  their 
souls  by  this  low,  debasing,  unmanly,  cowardly  practice  of 
self-abuse. 

The  extent  of  this  vice  cannot  be  ascertained — its  nature 
prevents  it ;  but  that  it  is,  in  connection  with  sexual  excess, 
lowering  and  undermining  the  health,  strength  and  ability 
of  thousands  of  the  young — who  otherwise  would  make 
their  mark  in  this  world — is  palpable  to  all  who  possess  the 
skill  to  rightly  judge  from  plainly  visible  effects  back  to  le¬ 
gitimate  causes. 


days  gone  by.  In  schools 


23 


353 


354 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


The  practice  of  this  vice,  so  common  among  boys,  and 
not  very  uncommon  among  girls,  is  one  of  the  great  reasons 
why  they  never  attain  distinction  in  their  educational  en¬ 
deavors,  or  attain  high  positions  in  the  world’s  department 
of  work. 

Let  us  glance  at  some  of  the  results  of  masturbation,  as 
affecting  the  health  and  character  of  the  individual ;  the  ar¬ 
ray  is  altogether  an  undesirable  one  :  headache,  dyspepsia, 
costiveness,  spinal  disease,  epilepsy,  impaired  eyesight,  pal¬ 
pitations  of  the  heart,  pain  in  the  side,  incontinence  of  urine, 
hysteria,  paralysis,  involuntary  seminal  emissions,  impotency,  . 
consumption,  insanity,  etc.  It  must  not  be  understood  that 
these  diseases  are  always  caused  by  this  degrading  vice  ;  but 
that  they  are  often  so  caused,  abundant  evidence  will  show. 
Affecting  so  markedly  the  physical  part  of  the  individual,  it 
affects  in  as  marked  a  manner  the  moral  department  of  the 
masturbater. 

“He  lays  down  his  nobleness,  dignity,  honor  and  man¬ 
hood,  and  is  no  longer  bold,  resolute,  determined,  aspiring, 
dignified,  but  becomes  depreciated,  irresolute,  undermined, 
undetermined,  tamed,  and  conscious  of  his  degradation.  No 
longer  comprehensive  in  planning,  efficient  in  executing,  cor¬ 
rect  in  judgment,  full  of  thought,  strong  in  intellect,  courte¬ 
ous  in  manner,  noble  in  mien,  and  gallant  to*  woman  ;  but 
he  becomes  disheartened,  uncertain  in  his  plans,  and  ineffi¬ 
cient  in  their  execution,  and  a  drone  to  himself  and  society. 
So,  too,  the  female,  diseased  here,  loses  proportionably  the 
amiableness  and  gracefulness  of  her  sex,  her  sweetness  of 
voice,  disposition  and  manner,  her  native  enthusiasm,  her 
beauty  of  face  and  form,  her  gracefulness  and  elegance  of 
carriage,  her  looks  of  love  and  interest  in  man  and  to  him, 
and  becomes  merged  into  a  mongrel,  neither  male  nor  fe¬ 
male,  but  marred  by  the  defects  of  both,  without  possessing 
the  virtues  of  either.’’ 

Thousands  of  sick  ones  are  treated  for  diseases  that  nei¬ 
ther  physician  or  friends  know  the  real  cause  and  nature  of. 


/ 


4 


MA  S  TURBA  TION.  3  5  5 

Consumption — or  a  wasting  fever  resembling  it — carries  off 
its  thousands  yearly.  Insane  asylums,  whether  the  keepers 
allow  it  to  be  so  or  not,  are  more  than  half  filled  by  the  vic¬ 
tims  of  this  degrading  vice.  Says  Dr.  Workman,  in  his  An¬ 
nual  Report  of  the  Toronto  Lunatic  Asylum  : 

“  There  is  one  cause,  of  a  physical  form,  which  I  fear  is 
very  widely  extended,  but  which  I  almost  dread  to  mention, 
which  all  over  this  continent  appears  to  be  peopling  our  asy¬ 
lums  with  a  loathsome,  abject,  and  hopeless  multitude  of  in¬ 
mates.  Its  victims  are  not  intemperate  ;  nay,  indeed,  not 
unfrequently  very  temperate  as  to  indulgence  in  alcoholic 
beverages  ;  these  are  very  modest,  very  shy,  very  (dare  I 
say  it  ?)  pious — as  such,  at  least,  they  often  are  sent  here, 
with  sufficient  credentials  ;  very  studious,  very  nervous,  very 
everything  save  what  they  really  are.  *  *  *  #  I  have 

recently  made  a  careful  scrutiny  of  the  character  of  the  cases 
of  insane  men  on  behalf  of  whom  applications  have  been 
made,  and  from  whose  friends  and  physicians  details,  in  our 
circular  form,  have  been  received.  The  result  has  been 
frightful.  I  hesitate  to  state  the  proportion  in  which — I  feel 
fully  assured  or  morally  certain — secret  vice  is  present. 

#  #  #  In  hardly  any  instance  is  it  found  that  parents 

have  any  suspicion  of  its  existence,  when  they  place  the  vic¬ 
tims  in  the  asylum  ;  indeed,  very  many  of  them  appear  to 
be  totally  ignorant  of  the  very  existence  of  such  a  habit ; 
and  nothing  can  be  more  painful  and  embarrassing  to  an 
asylum  physician  than  correspondence  by  letter  with  such 
persons^  when  the  conviction  is  established  in  our  minds  that 
the  insanity  of  their  beloved  one  is  associated  with  the  de¬ 
structive  habit,  and  that  in  all  probability  it  has  been  pro¬ 
duced  by  it.  The  very  frequent,  indeed  almost  invariable 
observance,  that  the  habit  of  secret  indulgence  is  encoun¬ 
tered,  not  in  persons  of  rough  manners  and  what  are  called 
coarse  morals,  but  in  those  of  an  opposite  character ;  not  in 
the  grossly  ignorant,  nor  even  in  the  profane,  but  in  the  bet¬ 
ter  informed  and  passingly  religious  ;  not  in  the  lover  of 


356 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


manly  sports  and  invigorating  enjoyments,  but  in  the  osten¬ 
sible  economizers  of  constitutional  power,  and  the  shunners 
of  youthful  frivolities  ;  not  in  those  who,  in  language  or  in 
acts,  are  regarded  as  overstepping  the  limits  of  modesty  or 
chastity,  but  among  those  who  evince  no  wish  to  mingle 
with  the  other  sex,  or  sometimes,  indeed,  evince  an  utter 
aversion  to  it;  the  observance  of  these  and  many  other  re¬ 
lated  facts,  has  constrained  me  to  the  belief  that  modern  so¬ 
ciety,  modern  training,  and  modern  exaction,  are  all  too  se¬ 
vere  upon  youth.” 

To  refute  the  argument  that  love  and  religion  are  the 
prime  causes  for  insanity,  Dr.  Workman  says  : 

“The  skillful  physician,  who  measures  the  feeble,  paltry, 
accelerated,  yet  lazy  pulse — who  feels  the  clammy,  cool, 
somewhat  repulsive  skin — who  notes  the  pallid  countenance, 
the  waxy  features,  and  frequently  foul  breath — who  tries  to 
gain  one  steady,  confiding,  open  look  from  his  patient,  and 
whose  questions  in  a  certain  suspected  direction  are  met  with 
hesitation,  equivocation,  or  affected  mortification,  well  knows 
how  much  truth  there  is  in  the  charge  against  love  ;  and  he 
will,  in  similar  cases,  acquit  religion. 

“  I  have  in  strong  remembrance  a  case  apparently  charge¬ 
able  to  religion.  The  patient,  before  entering  here,  did 
hardly  anything  but  attend  prayer-meetings  and  preachings; 
he  was  away  from  one  church,  and  off  to  another,  as  fast  as 
opened  doors  permitted  him.  In  the  climax  of  this  fervor 
he  was  sent  to  the  asylum.  We  know  how  much  religion 
had  to  do  with  his  insanity — not  more  than  smoke  has  in 
kindling  the  fire  from  which  it  proceeds.” 

Dr.  Workman  well  asks  : 

“  What  is  to  be  done  to  check  the  progress  of  the  evil  ? — 
for  that  it  is  progressing  and  accumulating  is  beyond  doubt. 
Surely  the  right  course  cannot  be  to  avoid  all  notice  of  it, 
or  to  do  all  we  can  to  ignore  its  very  existence  ;  much  less 
to  manifest  disapproval  of  those  who  proclaim  the  evil.  Yet 
this  is  exactly  what  many  do.  It  is  unnecessary  to  speak 


MASTURBA  TION. 


357 


more  pointedly;  those  who  have  so  done  will  be  able  to  ap¬ 
ply  these  remarks — it  is  to  be  hoped  profitably — and  will 
see  that  they  have  erred  in  believing  that  their  mistaken  del¬ 
icacy  is  to  be  regarded  as  the  equivalent  of  their  neglect  of 
duty.  The  first  rational  step  toward  the  removal  of  an  evil 
is  the  recognition  of  its  existence  and  the  ascertainment  of 
its  magnitude.  Can  it  be  right  that,  through  a  fastidious 
delicacy  on  the  part  of  those  possessed  of  information,  the 
youth  of  our  country  should  be  permitted  to  fall  into  the 
traps  and  pitfalls  with  which  their  paths  are  studded  ?  Of 
all  the  hidden  dangers  besetting  them,  assuredly  none  is  of  a 
more  hideous  or  more  destructive  character  than  that  here 
alluded  to.” 

What  are  some  of  the  causes  for  the  adoption  and  prac¬ 
tice  of  masturbation  by  boys  and  girls,  and  its  continuance, 
in  very  many  cases,  to  manhood  and  womanhood  ?  The 
great  underlying  cause,  that  of  perverted  amativeness,  is  un¬ 
doubtedly  transmitted  by  the  parents  to  the  child.  As  al¬ 
ready  explained  in  a  former  chapter,  the  husband  and  wife, 
in  their  life  of  lust  and  licentiousness,  especially  during  the 
ante-natal  life  of  the  child,  endow  in  full  measure  the  quality 
of  abnormal  and  perverted  amative  desires  in  the  nature  of 
the  child.  The  child,  on  arriving  at  five,  eight,  or  ten  years 
of  age,  adopts,  as  naturally  as  it  would  the  observance  of 
any  other  transmitted  quality,  the  exercise  of  its  perverted 
amativeness,  by  the  only  means  known  to  it — that  oi 
self-abuse.  Especially  will  it  be  prompt  in  adopting  this 
foul  and  sickening  habit,  if  its  father — in  connection  with  the 
exercise  of  licentiousness  during  the  child’s  ante-natal  life — - 
has  at  any  time  of  his  life  practiced  .self-abuse.  A  father, 
having  been  at  any  time  of  his  life  a  masturbater,  and  lead¬ 
ing  other  than  a  perfectly  chaste  and  continent  life  during 
the  child’s  growth  in  the  mother’s  womb,  will,  as  surely  as 
night  succeeds  day,  have  a  child  that  will  likewise  mastur¬ 
bate.  There  is  no  doubt  about  this.  A  man  and  woman, 
perfectly  healthy,  closely  observing  the  Law  of  Genius  in 


358 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


the  development  of  a  new  being,  will  have  a  child  that  will 
grow  up  to  perfect  manhood  or  womanhood  without  even 
the  thought  of  masturbation  entering  his  or  her  head ;  and 
if,  on  attaining  a  reasoning  age,  they  are  advised  and  in¬ 
structed  in  the  right  object  and  use  of  the  sexual  depart¬ 
ment  of  their  system,  they  cannot,  by  example  or  otherwise, 
be  made  to  do  this  unclean  thing. 

It  being  decided  that  transmitted  abnormal  amativeness  is 
the  underlying  cause  for  masturbation  in  children,  let  us 
glance  at  some  of  the  immediate  exciting  and  predisposing 
causes. 

One  of  the  most  effective  of  the  exciting  causes  is  wrong 
dietetic  habits.  That  a  child — as  thousands  are — can  be  fed 
on  highly  seasoned  and  gross  food — lard,  eggs,  pastry,  ani¬ 
mal  food,  pepper,  salt,  candies,  pickles,  tea,  coffee,  etc.,  and, 
as  very  many  are,  on  some  form  or  other  of  alcoholic  liquors 
— and  not  have  amative  desires,  is  utterly  impossible.  Feed¬ 
ing  with  food,  gravies,  pies,  tea  and  coffee,  to  a  five  or  ten- 
year  old  angel  from  heaven,  would  produce  in  it  a  tendency 
to  self-abuse,  avoiding  all  mention  of  a  child  of  the  earth, 
born  with  an  inherited  tendency. 

Uncleanliness  of  the  body,  sleeping  on  feather  beds  and 
feather  pillows,  sleeping  with  bedfellows,  unventilated  sleep¬ 
ing  rooms,  confinement  in  doors,  constipation,  worms  in  the 
intestines,  retention  of  urine,  late  suppers,  tobacco  and  alco¬ 
holic  liquors,  are  a  few  of  the  many  exciting  causes  inducing 
this  habit. 

Example  is  often  a  strong  and  ruling  cause,  as  is  also  the 
practice  that  very  many  nursery-maids  have  in  producing 
friction  of  the  genital  organs  of  the  child  to  keep  it  quiet. 
The  foolish  practice  that  many  parents  have — a  reflex  of 
their  own  perverted  natures — of  talking  to  children  about 
“sweethearts”  and  “lovers,”  will  start  a  train  of  thought  in 
the  child’s  mind  that  will  lead  to  an  early  adoption  of  the 
habit,  if  not  already  practiced. 

Before  giving  the  means  necessary  to  effect  a  cure  of  this 


MASTURBA  TION. 


359 


disorder,  it  would  be  desirable  to  notice  some  of  the  signs 
indicating  the  presence  of  the  habit  in  the  individual.  Says 
Dr.  J.  C.  Jackson: 

“  Of  the  signs  whereby  masturbation  is  almost  infallibly 
indicated,  impairment  of  nutrition,  accompanied  by  capri¬ 
ciousness  of  appetite,  stands  prominent.  Proverbially  true 
is  it,  that  all  masturbating  boys  and  girls,  whether  of  younger 
or  older  ages,  are  voracious  eaters,  though  exceedingly  ca¬ 
pricious  in  their  appetites,  and  are  not  satisfied  with  any  food 
unless  it  is  so  highly  seasoned  or  highly  flavored  as  to  an¬ 
swer  for  the  present  their  apparent  demands.  I  have  never 
seen  a  person  who  was  a  habitual  indulger  in  this  vicious 
practice  who  could  be  satisfied,  on  any  occasion,  with  the 
presentation  to  him  or  her  of  nutrient  food,  simply  yet 
healthfully  and  relishably  cooked.  One  of  the  signs,  there¬ 
fore,  whereby  I  am  led  to  decide  whether  or  not  persons  are 
in  the  habit  of  masturbating,  is  the  particular  disgust  or  dis¬ 
like  which  they  show  for  food,  which  they  are  otherwise  ac¬ 
customed  to  eat,  if  it  is  simply  cooked.  I  could  give  a  list 
of  articles  which  masturbaters  have  a  great  liking  for,  and 
for  which  but  very  few  other  persons  care,  unless  they  are  in 
the  same  relative  condition  of  health,  caused  by  sexual  ex¬ 
cesses.  I  never  knew  a  girl  to  eat  lime  off  the  wall,  or  to 
chew  up  her  slate-pencils,  who  was  not  to  a  greater  or  less 
extent  a  victim  of  this  practice.  I  never  knew  a  boy  who 
was  accustomed  to  eat  lumps  of  salt  without  anything  with 
it,  and  in  fact  I  might  say  who  was  a  vef}Tlnor3inate  eater 
of  salt  upon  his  food,  who  was  not,  or  had  not  been  at  some 
period  of  his  life,  a  masturbater.  I  do  not  believe  that  there 
is  a  boy  fourteen  years  old  to  be  found  in  the  United  States,  \ 
who  use's  tobacco  habitually  in  any  form,  who  is  not  a  mas-  ^ 
turbater  ;  and  I  am  sure  that  the  same  may  be  said  with 
truth  of  Uoth  boys  and  girls  who  are  in  the  daily  habitual 
use  of  “stimulating  drinks,  whether  they  be  of  liquors  that 
are  “distilled  or  those  that  are  fermented  ;  also  those  who 
have  a  passion ,  as  we  term  it,  for  eating  spices  and  condi- 


360 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


ments  ;  boys  and  girls  who  have  a  hankering  after  cloves, 
cinnamon,  carraway,  mace,  and  the  like,  are  surely  habitu¬ 
ally  associated  with  this  practice. 

“  Of  girls,  there  is  more  liability  to  be  deceived,  in  en¬ 
deavoring  to  find  out  the  causes  for  their  apparent  ill-health 
than  there  is  of  boys  ;  because  neither  parents  nor  members 
of  the  family,  nor  in  fact  physicians,  are  at  liberty,  under  the 
laws  regulating  the  social  relations  of  the  sexes,  to  exercise 
as  frank,  free  and  full  inspection  and  examination  into  all  the 
causes  that  produce  disease  among  females  as  they  are.  among 
males.  Owing  to  this,  masturbation  is  practiced  with  much 
more  unsuspiciousness  among  girls  than  among  boys,  espec¬ 
ially  at  or  about  the  time  of  puberty.  If,  at  that  period,  the 
girl  shows  any  infirmity,  feebleness,  lack  of  vigor,  or  any¬ 
thing  of  that  sort,  the  mother  has  all  her  attention  directed 
toward  the  development  of  the  menstrual  function.  She  is 
afraid  that  the  child  who  is  “  getting  to  be  a  woman”  is 
likely  to  fail  in  the  upspringing  of  this  new  activity,  and  to 
have,  in  consequence,  “  a  sick  time  she  is  apt,  therefore, 
to  draw  a  foregone  conclusion  about  it,  and  to  proceed  to 
“  doctor”  her  daughter.  In  a  large  number  of  cases,  what 
are  supposed  to  be  the  derangements  of  the  menstrual  func¬ 
tion,  consequent  upon  a  girl’s  arrival  at  puberty,  as  shown 
in  her  illness  or  perhaps  severe  sickness,  should  be  attributed 
to  a  habit  of  rousing  up,  by  artificial  means,  her  sexual  or¬ 
ganism  to  unnatural  excitement,  the  reactionary  effects  of 
which  are  seen  in  her  morbid  states  of  body,  and  about 
which  her  parents  and  friends  are  so  often  alarmed.  Let  it 
be  borne  in  mind,  then,  by  parents,  whenever  any  such  par¬ 
ticular,  unnatural,  or  unaccountable  conditions  of  appetite 
show  themselves  as  I  have  alluded  to — in  fact,  when  any 
strange,  out-of-the-way  alimentive  caprice,  is  exhibited  by  a 
boy  or  girl,  Ibr  which  there  is  not  the  most  obviously  plain 
interpretation  at  hand — the  exposition  of  it  is  to  be  had  only 
by  and  through  the  acknowledgment  of  the  fact  that  the 
party  is  a  masturbater. 


MASTURBATION. 


361 


“  Another  sign  of  masturbation  upon  which  I  have  accus¬ 
tomed  myself  to  place  great  reliance,  and  which  I  have  sel¬ 
dom  known  to  be  incorrect,  is  the  particular  gait  which  mas¬ 
turbating  girls  and  boys  show  when  the  habit  has  become 
ripe  in  them.  One  used  to  close  and  specific  observation  in 
this  direction  can  detect  a  boy  who  is  educated  to  this  vice, 
by  the  peculiarity  of  the  motion  which  is  discernable  at  the 
junction  of  the  locomotive  organs  with  the  body.  Such  a 
victim,  though  he  may  be  young,  quite  young,  or  though  he 
may  be  in  his  teens,  walks,  when  you  see  him  posteriorly,  as 
if  he  were  stiffened.  He  does  not  show  the  peculiarity  so 
much  when  walking  slowly,  or  when  running  very  fast,  as  he 
does  when  walking  fast ;  then  he  impresses  the  looker-on 
that  he  is  rheumatic,  and  suffering  from  stiffness  in  the  small 
of  his  back.  As  far  as  you  can  see  such  a  boy,  when  he  is 
in  rapid  walking-motion,  you  can  tell  him. 

“  A  masturbating  girl  who  is  past  the  age  of  puberty  may 
be  known  by  her  gait,  notwithstanding  the  difficulties  in  the 
way  growing  out  of  her  style  of  dress,  although  it  is  by  no 
means  as  easy  to  settle  the  matter  as  in  the  case  of  the  other 
sex.  Girls  who  have  followed  masturbating  habits,  from  the 
age  of  ten  years  up  to  that  of  seventeen  or  eighteen,  show, 
usually,  strong  indications  of  it  in  the  failure  of  their  gland¬ 
ular  development.  Such  persons  are  apt  to  be  flat-breasted, 
or,  as  we  term  it,  flat-chested — the  breasts  not  filling  as  they 
would  do  under  better  and  healthier  states  of  the  nutritive 
and  secretory  systems.  They  become  round-shouldered  ; 
their  heads  seem  to  be  dropping  forward  all  the  time,  and 
their  shoulders  are  drawn  forward,  as  if  forced  in  that  direc¬ 
tion  and  kept  there  by  mechanical  appliances.  They  fall  in 
and  become  hollow  at  the  pit  of  the  stomach;  and  they  uni¬ 
formly,  as  masturbating  boys  do,  sit  crookedly.  They  are 
particularly  subject  to  a  sideling  gait,  going  one  side  at  a 
time,  as  it  were,  as  though  there  were  a  spirit  of  antagonism 
set  up  between  their  organs  of  locomotion,  one  leg  being 
impelled  to  motion,  while  the  other  is  as  strongly  impelled 


362 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE . 


to  rest ;  and  so  alternations  of  activity  and  repose  become 
manifested  more  in  opposition  than  in  co-operation.  This 
gait  or  style  of  motion,  therefore,  may  be  characterized  as  a 
wiggle  rather  than  a  walk,  which  peculiarity  by  such  persons 
is  sometimes  made  more  positive  than  is  necessary  in  order 
to  conceal  so  much  of  it  as  is  inevitable.” 

Lallemand  observes  : 

“  When  a  child,  after  having  proofs  of  memory  and  intel¬ 
ligence,  experiences  daily  more  and  more  difficulty  in  retain¬ 
ing  and  understanding  what  is  taught  him,  we  may  be  sure 
that  it  is  not  only  from  unwillingness  or  from  idleness,  as  is 
commonly  supposed.  Beside  the  slow  and  progressive  de¬ 
rangement  of  his  or  her  health,  the  diminished  energy  of 
application,  the  languid  movement,  the  stooping  gait,  the 
desertion  of  social  games,  the  solitary  walk,  late  rising,  livid 
and  sunken  eye,  and  many  other  symptoms,  will  fix  the  at¬ 
tention  of  every  intelligent  and  competent  guardian  of 
youth.” 

O.  S.  Fowler  gives  the  following  summary  of  the  signs  of 
masturbation  : 

“  The  private  sensualist  may  be  further  known  by  his  pal¬ 
lid,  bloodless  countenance,  and  hollow,  sunken,  and  half- 
ghastly  eyes,  the  lids  of  which  will  frequently  be  tinged  with 
red  ;  while,  if  his  indulgence  has  been  carried  very  far,  he 
will  have  black  and  blue  semi-circles  under  his  eyes,  and  also 
look  as  if  worn  out,  almost  dead  from  want  of  sleep,  yet  un¬ 
able  to  get  it,  etc.  He  will  also  have  a  half  wild,  or  half 
lascivious,  half  foolish  smile,  especially  when  he  sees  a  fe¬ 
male.  He  will  also  have  a  certain  quickness  yet  indecision 
of  manner  ;  will  begin  to  do  this  thing,  then  stop  and  essay 
to  do  that,  and  then  do  what  he  first  intended  ;  and  in  such 
utterly  insignificant  matters  as  putting  his  hat  here  and 
there,  etc.  The  same  incoherence  will  characterize  his  ex¬ 
pressions,  and  the  same  want  of  promptness  mark  all  he 
does.  Little  things  will  agitate  and  fluster  him,  nor  will  he 
be  prompt,  or  resolute,  or  bold,  or  forcible ;  but  timid,  afraid 


MA  S  TURBA  TION. 


363 


of  his  own  shadow,  uncertain,  waiting  to  see  what  is  best, 
and  always  in  a  hurry,  yet  hardly  knows  what  he  is  doing, 
or  wants  to  do.  Nor  will  he  walk  erect,  or  dignified,  as  if 
conscious  of  his  manhood,  and  lofty  in  his  aspirations,  but 
will  walk  and  move  with  a  diminutive,  cringing,  sycophantic, 
inferior,  mean,  self-debased  manner,  as  if  depreciated  and 
degraded  in  his  own  eyes ;  thus  telling  you  perpetually  by 
his  shamed  looks  and  sheepish  manner  that  he  has  been  do¬ 
ing  something 'low,  contemptible  and  vulgar.  This  secret 
practice  has  impaired  both  his  physical  and  mental  manhood, 
and  thereby  effaced  the  nobleness  and  efficiency  of  the  mas¬ 
culine,  and  deteriorated  his  soul,  beside  having  ruined  his 
body. 

“  He  will,  moreover,  be  dull  of  comprehension,  incorrect, 
forgetful,  heedless,  full  of  blunders  of  all  sorts ;  crude  and 
inappropriate  in  his  jokes,  slow  to  take  the  hint,  listless,  in¬ 
attentive,  absent-minded,  sad,  melancholy,  easily  frightened, 
easily  discouraged,  wanting  in  clearness  and  point  of  idea, 
less  bright  than  formerly,  and  altogether  depreciated  in  looks 
and  talents  compared  with  what  he  would  have  been,  if  he 
had  never  contracted  this  soul  and  body  ruining  prac¬ 
tice.” 

In  the  adoption  of  a  plan  for  restoration  to  perfect  man¬ 
hood,  it  is  required  as  a  preliminary  that  the  habit  be  at 
once  abstained  from.  Few  persons  will  defile  themselves  in 
this  unnatural  way,  when  they  learn  the  consequences  such 
acts  will  entail  on  their  physical  and  moral  natures.  Total 
abstinence  being  decided  on,  the  .next  requirement  is  found 
in  right  dietetic  habits.  Nothing  but  the  very  plainest  and 
simplest  food  should  be  used,  and  late  suppers,  or,  what  is 
better,  suppers  of  any  kind,  should  be  avoided.  All  kinds 
of  animal  food,  milk,  eggs,  spices,  etc.,  should  be  shunned. 
Ripe  fruits,  in  their  natural  state  or  plainly  cooked,  brown 
bread,  wheaten  grits,  hominy,  and  vegetables  plainly  cooked, 
are  the  best  articles  of  diet  for  persons  in  this  condition.  If 
patients  have  the  courage  to  adopt,  as  near  as  they  can,  a 


364 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


starvation  diet,  though  it  will  cause  depressed  feelings  at 
first,  their  recovery  to  perfect  health  will  be  much  more 
rapid.  The  bed  or  pillows  should  not  be  of  feathers  or  of 
down,  but  otherwise  of  material  that  will  make  it  as  hard  as 
can  be  endured  without  discomfort.  The  bed-covering 
should  be  very  light,  even  in  cold  weather  ;  the  bedroom 
should  be  thoroughly  ventilated  both  night  and  day.  “Early 
to  bed  and  early  to  rise”  should  be  an  invariable  rule.  No 
second  morning  nap  should  be  allowed,  but  as  soon  as  the 
person  first  awakes  he  should  leap  immediately  out  of  bed. 
When  possible,  sleeping  on  the  back  should  be  avoided.  On 
arising,  the  towel-bath,  with  thorough  after-friction,  should 
be  taken  daily,  followed  by  a  brisk  walk  out  into  the  fresh 
morning  air,  returning  in  time  for  breakfast.  A  sitz-bath  of 
cool  or  cold  water,  lasting  for  about  fifteen  minutes,  may  be 
taken  daily,  at  any  hour  most  convenient. 

The  mind  of  the  person  must  be  directed  in  legitimate 
channels.  All  thoughts  that  bear  the  impress  of  impurity 
must  be  promptly  dethroned,  and  the  mind  directed  to  the 
subjects  of  his  daily  employment,  and  on  plans  and  opera¬ 
tions  that  look  far  outward  into  the  future  ;  the  past  to  be  as 
a  dream,  and,  if  possible,  to  remain  as  such  ;  the  future  to 
contain  some  high  aim,  and  the  endeavor  required  to  reach 
such  will  carry  with"  it  a  return  to  perfect  health,  perfect  man¬ 
hood  and  perfect  happiness.  No  man  (or  woman)  is  born 
into  this  world  without  having,  in  a  smaller  or  greater  meas¬ 
ure',  some  predominant  quality  necessary  to  success  in  life, 
the  just  exercise  of  which  will  not  only  benefit  his  fellow- 
beings,  but  will,  or  should,  perfect  his  own  soul-life,  in  this 
world,  in  preparation  for  the  next.  Let  the  patient  find  out 
what  particular  department  in  life’s  workshop  he  is  able  by 
his  talents  to  fill,  and,  when  decided  on,  let  him  with  the 
whole  earnestness  of  his  nature,  the  enthusiasm  of  a  new¬ 
found  life,  and  the  ardor  of  an  earnest  soul,  follow  out  by 
untiring  application  the  attainment  of  his  plans  and  de¬ 


sires. 


MASTURBA  TION. 


365 


“  Nothing  serves  so  well  to  strengthen  and  sustain  the 
young  person  who  has  resolved  to  attempt  self-reformation, 
as  a  lively  interest  in  the  various  reforms  of  the  day;  and 
in  becoming  a  laborer  in  the  cause  of  temperance  reform, 
health  reform,  moral  reform,  etc.,  he  finds  himself  surrounded 
by  an  influence  which  seems  to  buoy  him  up,  and  give  him 
energy  and  fortitude  to  accomplish  his  own  particular  reno¬ 
vation  of  habits.  His  reading,  and  studies,  and  reflections, 
should  be  carefully  directed  to  practical  and  not  to  specula¬ 
tive  subjects.  I  do  not  mean  that  he  should  become  a  lead¬ 
er  among  men  in  any  sense,  nor  go  forward  as  a  champion 
in  any  cause  ;  this  requires  all  the  vigor  of  body  and  energy 
of  mind  that  we  find  in  those  who  have  never  wasted  any 
portion  of  their  vitality  ;  but  that  he  seek  such  persons  as 
associates,  and  try  to  identify  himself  with  and  interest  his 
feelings  in  the  principles  which  they  advocate.” 

The  patient  should  so  regulate  his  every-day  employment 
and  exercise  as  to  be  tired,  at  least  physically,  if  not  men¬ 
tally,  when  he  retires  to  bed. 

It  requires  nothing  more  than  total  abstinence  from  the 
habit,  and  a  close  observance  of  the  Plan  of  Life,  to  effect  a 
thorough  and  radical  reformation. 

Should  seminal  emissions  result,  as  is  often  the  case,  the 
plan  of  treatment  given  in  the  last  chapter  is  to  be  adopted. 
Marriage  is  sometimes  recommended  as  a  remedy  for  this 
habit,  especially  when  it  has  so  grown  .on  the  individual  as 
to  be  difficult  of  treatment:  The  remarks  made  on  page 
344,  in  reference  to  marrying  as  a  cure  for  seminal  emissions, 
are  equally  applicable  here.  The  remedy,  in  its  exercise,  is 
much  worse  than  the  disease,  beside  involving  in  filthy  and 
lustful  associations  the  pure  and  clean  nature  of  the  new- 
made  wife.  The  man  practicing  self-abuse,  and  lacking  the 
force  of  will  to  adopt  proper  remedial  measures,  and  daring 
to  give  his  enervated,  shrunken,  almost  lifeless  soul  to  the 
purity,  strength  and  beauty  of  a  ripe  womanhood,  should,  if 
.God  would  exercise  a  special  indication  of  His  displeasure, 


366 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE . 


be  stricken  from  the  crown  of  his  head  to  the  soles  of  his 
feet  with  palsy,  and  so  make  of  him  a  living,  yet  a  dead  ex¬ 
ample  to  all  whose  thoughts  lead  them  in  the  desire  to  marry 
as  a  remedy  for  this  filthy  and  soul-debasing  practice. 

In  girls  or  women  who  practice  masturbation,  in  addition 
to  the  rules  above  mentioned,  they  must  avoid  all  constric¬ 
tion  of  dress.  The  wearing  of  corsets — whether  worn  tight 
or  not — or  constrictions  of  any  kind  around  the  body,  pre¬ 
vent  a  free  circulation  of  the  blood,  and  also  operate  against 
its  purification,  confining  it  in  abnormal  quantities  in  the  pel¬ 
vic  portion  of  the  body,  and  so  irritating  and  creating  a  de¬ 
sire  in  the  sexual  department  of  the  woman  that  must  be  al¬ 
layed  in  some  way — either  by  an  early  marriage  to  the  first 
man  offering,  and  the  resulting  sexual  excess,  by  clandes¬ 
tine  and  unlawful  excess,  or  by  self-abuse.  This  fact,  hav¬ 
ing  for  its  basis  physiological  laws  that  cannot  be  gainsayed, 
is  an  important  one,  in  the  easy  treatment  of  young  girls  or 
women  for  self-abuse.  The  fashionable  women,  or  the  imi¬ 
tators  of  such,  who  wear  corsets^Jong  dresses,  and  a  pile  of 
false  or  natural  hair,  covering  that  part  of  the  brain  in  which 
amativeness  is  located,  will  take  as  naturally  to  a  life  of  sex¬ 
ual  excess — legitimate  or  otherwise — as  would  a  whisky- 
steeped,  tobacco- flavored  male  sensualist.  Such  a  woman 
cannot  possibly  lead  a  continent  life,  and  it  is  almost  impos¬ 
sible,  in  the  nature  of  things,  that  she  should  lead  other  than 
a  life  of  sexual  excess. 

In  young  children,  who  have  been  led  into  the  practice  by 
their  nurses,  it  is  only  necessary  to  closely  watch  them,  and 
with  right  food,  bathing,  pure  air,  and  exercise,  they  will 
rapidly  recover. 

The  requirements  necessary  for  the  prevention  of  mastur¬ 
bation  must,  of  course,  commence  before  the  generating  of 
the  child,  and  continue  during  its  ante-natal  life.  If  parents 
would  only  adopt  the  rules  and  suggestions  given  in  Chap¬ 
ters  IX.,  XII.,  and  XIII.,  the  habit  of  perverted  sexual  de¬ 
sires  in  children  would  never  exist. 


MASTURBA  TION. 


367 


Next  in  importance,  as  a  preventive,  is  the  instructing  and 
enlightening;  of  children  in  the  true  use  of  their  sexual  or- 

O  o 

ganism.  In  a  frank,  kind,  loving  way,  the  parents  should 
instruct  their  boys  and  girls  as  to  the  nature,  objects  and  re¬ 
quirements  of  this  great  power  for  good  or  evil.  They 
should  warn  them  against  the  danger  resulting  from  abusing 
it ;  and  if,  by  accident,  they  should  personally  see  or  be 
asked  to  join  in  the.  practice,  they  should  be  instructed  to 
refuse,  and  in  future  to  avoid  such  company.  If  parents, 
through  ignorance  of  the  subject,  or  through  false  delicacy, 
decline  to  do  this,  they  should  purchase  popular  works  on 
physiology,  and  place  them  in  the  hands  of  their  children. 
Parents  who  allow  children  to  grow  up  without  in  any  way 
or  at  any  time  instructing  or  advising  with  them  in  the  use 
and  abuse  of  the  sexual  department  of  their  systems,  do 
them  a  very  great  and  lasting  wrong. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 


STERILITY  AND  IMPOTENCE — THEIR  CAUSES,  TREATMENT 

AND  CURE. 


NE  of  the  first  laws  promul¬ 
gated  by  the  Almighty,  in 
the  peopling  of  this  earth, 
was  the  command  :  “Be  ye 
fruitful  and  multiply”  —  a 
command  that  embodies  in 
its  natural  and  legitimate 
observance  incomparable 
happiness — a  happiness  that 
is  above  and  beyond  all  else, 
and  supreme  among  the  re¬ 
quirements  intended  for 
man’s  growth  and  perfec¬ 
tion.  When,  through  causes 
avoidable  or  non-avoidable, 
this  divine  law  cannot  be 
observed,  and  no  children 
appear  to  bless  and  perfect 
the  love-union  of  the  husband  and  wife,  then  there  follows, 
oft-times,  great  and  life-long  unhappiness  and  misery.  For 
the  benefit  of  this  last  class — a  very  large  one — is  this  and 
the  succeeding  chapter  written. 

Apart  from  transmitted  physical  causes,  sterility  in  most 
cases  is  susceptible  of  removal  under  certain  conditions ;  yet 
most  women,  believing  themselves  in  perfect  health,  at  least 

368 


STERILITY  AND  IMPOTENCE. 


369 


not  imagining  they  have  any  local  disease  which  might  be 
the  cause  of  their  condition,  think  it  a  dispensation  of  the 
Almighty  that  they  should  have  no  children,  and  therefore 
take  no  further  thought  on  the  matter ;  whereas,  if  they  had 
consulted  a  reliable  physician,  the  difficulty  would  have  been 
explained  to  them,  and  perhaps  removed,  and  a  fruitful  and 
happy  life  secured. 

Sterility  in  women.  Sterility,  as  occurring  in  women,  may 
be  divided  into  two  classes — the  married  woman  who  never 
has  had  children,  and  the  woman  who,  having  had  one  or 
two,  has  nevertheless  been  sterile  for  many  years. 

There  are  two  requisites  necessary  in  a  woman  who  is  ca¬ 
pable  of  being  fecundated.  The  first  is  that  she  has  arrived 
at  a  mature  age ;  and  the  second,  that  she  has  not  passed 
the  term  after  which  conception  is  possible. 

Those  causes  for  sterility  depending  on  violated  physio¬ 
logical  laws  will  be  first  mentioned.  Of  these,  the  one  that 
meets  us  on  the  very  threshold — that  of  the  unlimited  sex¬ 
ual  excess  of  the  newly  married,  stands  prominent  and  par¬ 
amount.  If  the  newly  married,  before  entering  into  the 
“  bonds,”  would  but  learn  and  know  the  laws  that  govern 
their  sexual  organism,  they  would  certainly  avoid  the  path 
that  has  led  so  many  strong  men  and  blooming  women  into 
conditions  that  involve  weakness,  sickness,  sterility ,  and  pre¬ 
mature  death.  Obeying  no  law,  exercising  blindly  only  the 
animal  of  their  natures,  impregnation  may  result  again  and 
again  ;  but,  through  the  repetition  and  intensity  of  the  act, 
they  destroy  what  they  produce.  After  a  time,  should  this 
unnatural  excess  be  continued,  inflammation  is  set  up  in  the 
uterus,  which  inflammation  soon  becomes  chronic,  and,  of 
course,  when  this  results,  though  impregnation  may  take 
place,  conception  cannot,  and  sterility  results — sterility  that 
will  be  likely  to  last  for  years.  This  result  in  those  newly 
married  explains  the  cause  why  so  many  of  this  class  are 
married  three,  four  or  five  years  before  they  have  offspring. 

A  large  proportion  of  the  newly  married  have  no  desire 

24 


370 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


for  children,  interfering  as  they  would  with  their  so-called 
pleasures  ;  and,  by  causes  above  mentioned,  they,  without 
knowing  it,  are  generally  successful  in  the  fulfillment  of  their 
wishes.  But  when,  after  a  time,  the  desire  is  present — as  it 
always  is,  sometime  or  other,  in  married  people  who  are  hu¬ 
man — it  will  be  found  that  sterility  in  the  woman  or  impo¬ 
tence  in  the  man  asserts  itself  as  a  just  punishment  for  laws 
transgressed. 

Again,  notwithstanding  sexual  excess,  impregnation  and 
conception  may  ensue  and  sterility  not  appear  until  after  the 
birth  of  one  or  two  children.  This  is  sometimes  the  result 
of  lacerations  of  the  neck  or  lips  of  the  uterus  in  the  first 
confinement.  When  such  is  the  case,  the  accompanying 
symptoms  are  those  of  painful  menstruation,  profuse  leucor- 
rhoea,  etc. 

Sterility  may  also  result  through  inability  of  the  uterus  to 
retain  the  impregnated  ovum,  in  consequence  of  weakness 
and  relaxation  of  its  fibres,  caused  by  tight  lacing,  impure 
air,  want  of  exercise,  etc. 

When  leucorrhoea  is  present,  as  it  almost  always  is  in  the 
above  state,  conception  cannot  take  place. 

Ulceration  of  the  os  cervix,  or  mouth  of  the  uterus — one 
of  the  most  ordinary  forms  of  uterine  complaints  in  women 
of  leisure — is  a  frequent  cause  of  sterility. 

When,  through  long-continued  self-abuse,  the  woman  has 
greatly  lowered  her  supply  of  vital  force,  and  especially  when 
she  arrives  at  the  stage  where  self-gratification  is  preferred 
to  natural  intercourse  with  her  husband,  barenness  almost 
always  ensues. 

Again,  through  the  almost  ever-present  and  universal  de¬ 
bility  in  women,  produced  by  such  utter  disregard  of  all 
laws — physical,  mental  or  moral — the  uterus,  from  local 
weakness  or  other  causes,  may  be  so  displaced  as  to  prevent 
the  entrance  of  the  spermatic  fluid  into  its  cavity.  This  con¬ 
dition  will  be  easily  understood  by  reference  to  figure  28,  on 
page  319.  The  flexion  of  the  womb  in  the  direction  of  the 


STERILITY  AND  IMPOTENCE. 


37i 


rectum  (A  and  D),  or  in  the  direction  of  the  bladder  (B  and 
C),  so  doubles  the  organ  as  to  close  at  its  neck  the  entrance 
to  it,  and  thus  preventing  the  semen  entering  its  cavity.  An 
almost  always  present  symptom  of  this  condition  is  painful 
menstruation. 

“  In  these  cases,  the  menstrual  fluid  being  secreted  within, 
is  discharged  with  more  or  less  pain,  often  with  very  great 
accompanying  suffering,  by  means  of  the  muscular  uterine 
force.  No  such  force  is  exerted,  or  can  be,  to  force  in  the 
seminal  fluid,  which  consequently  rarely  reaches  within  the 
uterus.  I  am  convinced  that  this  obliquity  is  the  present 
cause  not  only  of  sterility,  but  also  of  dysmenorrhcea,  in 
very  many  cases,  from  the  number  of  such  instances  which 
have,  within  a  short  time,  fallen  under  my  observation.” 

A  prolapsed  condition  of  the  uterus  will  also  favor  ster¬ 
ility. 

The  treatment  and  cure  for  sterility  caused  as  above,  by 
sexual  excess,  general  weakness,  and  lack  of  life-force,  pro¬ 
duced  in  any  way,  are  found  in  the  close  observance  of  the 
laws  and  suggestions  to  be  found  in  Chapters  IX.,  XI.,  and 
XIII.  Most  sterile  women  believe  themselves  in  perfect 
health — at  least  they  do  not  imagine  that  they  have  any  lo¬ 
cal  disease  which  might  be  the  cause  of  their  condition. 

When  there  is  displacement  of  the  uterus  present,  the  or¬ 
gan  must  be  returned  to  its  natural  position,  and  retained 
there  by  the  means  stated  in  Chapter  XXIII. 

If,  through  any  of  the  above  causes,  sterility  is  present, 
it  is  only  required  that  a  return  be  made  to  a  strictly  chaste 
and  continent  life,  until  such  time  as  the  wife  and  husband 
are  restored  to  vigorous  and  perfect  health,  when,  if  the  di¬ 
rections  heretofore  given  for  the  generating  of  a  new  life  be 
observed,  conception  will  surely  follow. 

The  hymen,  usually  a  thin  and  easily  lacerated  membrane, 
may  be  so  thick  and  strong  as  to  prevent  an  entrance  into 
the  vagina.  When  this  is  the  case,  there  is  usually  a  small 
opening  through  which  the  menstrual  discharge  escapes, 


372 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


causing  some  pain.  But  there  are  cases  on  record  when  no 
such  opening  existed,  and  the  menses  had  been  retained  un¬ 
til  the  quantity  was  immense.  The  treatment  required  for 
imperforated  hymen  is  its  division  by  the  scalpel,  and  re¬ 
quires  the  aid  of  a  surgeon.  Its  division  causes  absolutely 
no  pain,  and  not  even  bleeding,  and  therefore  no  hesitation 
need  be  entertained  as  to  its  removal. 

Through  ignorance  of  the  parties  on  sexual  subjects,  even 
a  comparatively  normal  hymen  may  prevent  the  consumma¬ 
tion  of  the  act.  Says  Acton  : 

“  So  common  is  this  ignorance,  that  it  is  far  from  seldom 
that  I  have  met  with  cases  in  which  the  hymen  has  never 
been  ruptured.  I  have  no  doubt  that  there  are  many  hus¬ 
bands  and  wives  living  together,  who  believe  that  everything 
usual  has  taken  place,  although  the  marriage  has  never  been 
actually  consummated,  and  that  this  is  far  from  the  least  fre¬ 
quent  cause  of  infertility.” 

Through  the  effects  of  disease  or  accident,  followed  by 
adhesive  inflammation,  there  may  result  such  a  contraction 
or  stricture  of  the  vagina  as  to  prevent  the  consummation 
of  the  act,  and  so  prevent  impregnation.  Sterility  caused 
in  this  way  can  only  be  removed  by  very  gradual  dilitation 
by  means  of  prepared  sponge,  etc.,  and  requires  a  long  time 
and  much  patience.  When  the  stricture  is  caused  by  inju¬ 
ries,  the  difficulty  of  treatment  is  greatly  increased. 

The  presence  of  tumors  or  other  abnormal  growths  in  the 
vagina,  or  in  the  neck  or  mouth  of  the  uterus,  will  also  pre¬ 
vent  conception.  When  they  are  located  in  the  neck  of  the 
uterus,  they  may  be  so  insignificant  as  not  to  be  easily  no¬ 
ticeable,  and  yet  large  enough  to  fill  the  passage  and  prevent 
the  ingress  of  the  seminal  fluid  into  the  cavity  of  the  organ. 
It  usually  requires,  in  the  treatment  of  sterility  caused  by 
intra-vaginal  or  intra-uterine  tumors,  that  they  be  removed 
by  means  that  requires  the  presence  of  a  physician  ;  al¬ 
though,  when  of  small  growth,  a  rigid  attention  to  hygienic 
laws,  and  local  and  general  baths,  will  often  result  in  their 
disappearance. 


STERILITY  AND  IMPOTENCE. 


373 


Stricture  of  the  canal  of  the  neck  of  the  uterus  often  re¬ 
sults  after  the  subsidence  of  chronic  leucorrhoea,  and,  until 
removed,  will  prevent  impregnation. 

The  Fallopian  tubes  may  be  ruptured  or  obliterated. 
This  occurs  generally  at  the  fimbriated  extremity.  Stricture 
may  also  be  present  in  the  tube,  as  may  also  disease,  de¬ 
formity,  or  misplacement  of  its  fimbriated  extremity. 

The  ovaries,  through  chronic  congestion  or  inflammation, 
may  lose  their  power  to  develop  the  germ-cell,  and  having 
no  service  to  perform,  gradually  wither  and  become  atro¬ 
phied.  Tumors  or  dropsy  may  also  destroy  the  ovaries,  or 
interfere  with  the  fimbriated  extremity  of  the  Fallopian  tube 
in  grasping  the  ripe  ovum. 

Congenital  shortness  of  the  vagina,  preventing  perfect  co¬ 
ition,  is  an  incurable  cause,  although  it  may  not  be  accom¬ 
panied  by  sterility.  A  woman  of  short  stature  will  have  a 
vagina  also  short,  and  if  she  marry  a  tall  man,  as  very  many 
such  women  do,  there  always  results  great,  and  often  intense 
pain,  when  the  sexual  act  is  performed,  and  very  frequently 
sterility  results. 

The  uterus  itself  may  be  absent.  A  married  lady  who 
recently  came  under  my  notice,  on  examination  for  an  en¬ 
tirely  different  object,  was  discovered  to  have  no  uterus,  the 
vagina,  about  two  inches  long,  ending  in  a  cul  de  sac.  This 
very  rarely  occurs. 

The  ovaries  are  sometimes  feebly  developed,  and  occa¬ 
sionally  are  entirely  absent. 

Impotence  in  man.  “  Impotence  is  the  term  given  to  all 
those  morbid  conditions  in  man  or  woman  which  are  op¬ 
posed  to  the  physiological  union  of  the  two  sexes — that  is 
to  say,  coition  ;  or,  in  less  accurate  language,  it  may  be  said 
to  be  general  inability  to  consummate  marriage.  Sterility  is 
the  term  reserved  for  all  those  morbid  states  which,  either  in 
the  one  or  the  other  sex,  prevent  the  reproduction  of  the 
species.  When,  however,  the  term  sterility  is  mentioned,  it 
more  especially  applies  to  the  female,  and  is  synonymous 


374 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


with  what  is  generally  known  as  barrenness — impotency  be¬ 
ing  usually  applied  to  the  man. 

“  The  forms  that  impotence  assumes  are  various,  though 
the  result  is  the  same  in  all  cases — namely,  inability  to  per¬ 
form  the  sexual  act.  Thus,  a  man  may  be  entirely  impo¬ 
tent,  whether  he  has  or  has  not  erection  attendant  on  desire. 
Again,  there  may  be  only  a  partial  erection,  lasting  an  in¬ 
sufficient  length  of  time  for  penetration ;  or  the  erection  may 
be  so  weak,  or  the  emission  so  quick,  as  practically  to  render 
the  man  impotent ;  or  a  man  may  be  impotent  from  no 
emission  at  all  taking  place ;  or  emission  may  not  take  place 
until  some  time  after  connection  has  been  attempted.” 

In  the  man,  as  in  the  woman,  continued  sexual  excess 
will  so  lower  the  vital  force  of  the  body,  and  as  a  sequence 
destroy  the  life-generating  power  of  the  seminal  fluid,  as  to 
make  him,  at  least  for  a  time,  impotent.  When  this  is  the 
case,  it  is  only  required  that  the  person  adopt  for  a  season  a 
continent  life,  to  regain,  in  a  measure,  his  power  to  repro¬ 
duce. 

Excess  in  early  married  life  is  almost  always  certain  to 
produce  impotence  late  in  life. 

A  temporary  impotency  is  sometimes  produced  by  intense 
and  continued  mental  effort,  but  is  always  removed  when  the 
drain  on  the  nervous  fluid  ceases,  and  the  body  regains  its 
normal  condition. 

Masturbation,  when  practiced  for  some  time,  always  results 
in  impotency.  The  very  nature  of  the  habit  tends  in  that 
direction.  Lallemand  says  : 

“  This  solitary  vice  has  a  tendency  to  separate  those  prac¬ 
ticing  it  from  women.  At  first,  of  course,  it  is  on  the  sex 
that  their  thoughts  dwell,  and  they  embellish  an  ideal  being 
with  all  the  charms  of  imaginary  perfection ;  the  habit,  how¬ 
ever,  which  enslaves  them  little  by  little,  changes  and  de¬ 
praves  the  nature  of  their  ideas,  and  at  last  leaves  nothing 
but  indifference  for  the  very  reality  of  which  the  image  has 
been  so  constantly  evoked  to  aid  their  criminal  indulgence.” 


STERILITY  AND  IMPOTENCE . 


375 


Says  Acton  :  “  This  strange  phenomenon,  of  self-abuse 
affording  greater  gratification  than  does  intercourse  with  the 
other  sex,  the  idea  of  whom,  after  all,  creates  the  excite¬ 
ment,  is  more  common  than  generally  supposed,  and  more 
in  accordance  with  what  we  should  expect  than  at  first  sight 
appears.  The  masturbater,  as  Rousseau  has  described,  has 
to  picture  in  his  imagination  all  the  female  charms  that  can 
exist,  so  as  to  be  able  to  rouse  his  flagging  sexual  desires. 
But  when  he  attempts  for  the  first  time,  or  at  long  intervals, 
to  accomplish  sexual  intercourse,  he  finds  much  difficulty 
and  very  little  pleasure.” 

The  cure  for  masturbation,  and  restoration  to  perfect  man¬ 
hood,  has  been  fully  given  in  Chapter  XXV. 

Want  of  sexual  feeling  in  the  man,  and  a  dislike  or  dis¬ 
gust  for  the  wife,  are  also  given  as  occasional  causes  for  im- 
potency. 

“  Want  of  sympathy  or  want  of  feeling,  on  the  woman’s 
part,  is  not  an  infrequent  cause  of  apathy,  coldness,  indiffer¬ 
ence,  or  frigidity  on  the  part  of  the  husband.  A  first  failure 
will  so  annihilate  a  man’s  sexual  feeling,  that  he  is  never  able 
or  anxious  to  attempt  connection  the  second  time.  Again, 
there  are  cases  of  amiable  men  who  carry  the  consideration 
for  the  woman  they  love  to  such  an  extent,  as  to  render 
themselves  practically  impotent,  for  very  dread  of  inflicting 
pain.” 

Non-descent  of  the  testes  is  a  cause  of  partial  impotence, 
and  almost  always  attended  by  sterility.  There  may  be  ex¬ 
ceptions  to  this  rule,  but  they  are  rare. 

The  presence  of  hernia,  with  the  required  use  of  trusses, 
seriously  interferes  with  the  reproductive  powers  ;  especially 
is  this  noticeable  when  a  double  truss  is  worn.  Relief,  in 
most  cases,  can  be  secured  by  the  careful  and  judicious  al¬ 
teration  in  the  size,  shape,  point  of  pressure,  and  method  of 
attachment  of  the  truss. 

The  enlargement  of  the  veins  of  the  cord — varicocele — is 
another  disorder  that,  in  its  severe  forms,  aggravates,  if  it 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


3f<5 

does  not  produce  impotency.  A  suspensory  bag,  right 
bathing,  and  careful  attention  to  diet  will  generally  remedy 
the  disorder. 

One  of  the  most  common  causes  of  impotence  in  the  man 
is  produced  by  stricture  of  the  urethra.  When  the  stricture 
is  of  a  serious  nature,  after  connection  the  semen  will  either 
dribble  away,  or  be  thrown  back  into  the  bladder.  The 
proper  treatment  for  stricture  has  been  given  in  a  previous 
chapter. 

Obesity  is  another  cause  for  impotency.  “  That  impo¬ 
tency  in  males  frequently  depends  upon  fat,  may  be  consid¬ 
ered  an  established  fact.  There  is  every  reason  to  believe 
that  the  same  cause  occasionally  induces  sterility  in  fe¬ 
males.” 

The  cure  for  sterility  or  impotence,  when  produced  by  the 
cause  last  named,  is  the  careful  avoidance  of  food  containing 
the  fat-producing  principle  ;  by  a  very  abstemious  diet ;  by 
bathing  and  thorough  friction  of  the  skin  ;  by  active  daily 
exercise ;  and  last,  but  by  no  means  least,  a  life  of  strict 
continence. 

I  will  here  embrace  the  opportunity  to  remark,  that  a 
plain,  abstemious  and  simple  life  is  always  favorable  to  fe¬ 
cundity.  Let  the  husband  and  wife  determine  to  live  on  the 
plainest  kinds  of  food,  and  in  as  near  its  natural  condition  as 
possible,  and  bearing  in  constant  remembrance  that  they 
should  eat  only  to  live  ;  take  daily  a  reasonable  amount  of 
healthful  exercise,  and  live,  as  much  as  they  can,  in  the 
open  air  and  sunshine  ;  bathe  frequently,  accompanying  it 
with  friction  of  the  entire  body,  thus  keeping  the  skin  al¬ 
ways  clean  and  bright ;  avoid  feather  beds  and  pillows;  keep 
regular  hours;  live  a  chaste,  continent  and  lovable  life,  and 
the  command  to  “  increase  and  multiply”  will  be  easy  of  at¬ 
tainment. 

Impotency  may  also  result  from  abnormal  conditions  of 
the  erectile  tissue,  as  manifested  in  slow  erection,  non-erec¬ 
tion,  imperfect  or  irregular  erection ;  or  it  may  be  caused  by 


STERILITY  AND  IMPOTENCE. 


377 


non-emission  of  the  semen,  as  mentioned  above  ;  by  obliter¬ 
ation  of  the  canal  of  the  urethra,  from  stricture  or  other 
causes  ;  by  a  natural  phimosis,  confining  the  gland  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  prevent  the  emission  of  semen ;  by  retraction 
of  the  organ,  from  stone  in  the  bladder  or  some  other  uri¬ 
nary  disease  ;  and  lastly,  constitutional  syphilis  or  chronic 
gleet  may  destroy,  by  its  admixture,  the  vitality  of  the  sem¬ 
inal  emission. 

Temperament  as  a  cause . — Similarity  of  temperament  in 
the  husband  and  wife  has  been  advanced,  by  some  latter- 
day  physiologists,  as  being  one  of  the  causes  of  sterility; 
and  when  children  have  resulted  from  such  a  union,  their 
early  deaths  are  always  predicted.  No  more  foolish  doc¬ 
trine  has  ever  been  promulgated.  The  assertion  that  a 
man  and  woman  of  well  balanced  and  precisely  similar  tem¬ 
peraments,  in  perfect  health  when  marrying,  will,  because  of 
this  similarity,  be  sterile,  or,  if  they  have  children,  they  will 
die  prematurely,  has  no  foundation  in  fact  or  fiction.  The 
union  of  a  man  and  woman,  both  of  whom  are  in  perfect 
health — I  care  not  what  their  temperaments  be,  whether 
they  are  precisely  alike.or  totally  dissimilar — cannot  be  oth¬ 
erwise  than  fruitful,  and  they  cannot  have  other  than  healthy 
children.  When  a  husband  and  wife  who,  through  supposed 
temperamental  conditions,  are  sterile,  let  them  adopt  a  con¬ 
tinent  life,  and  follow  it  out  until  they  both,  under  condi¬ 
tions  mentioned  in  the  Plan  of  Life,  regain  in  full  measure 
their  health  of  body  and  mind,  and  then  let  them  proceed  to 
generate  a  new  life  under  conditions  given  in  these  pages, 
and  I  will  stake  my  existence  on  an  unequivocally  desirable 
result — healthy,  beautiful,  intellectual  children,  and  many  of 
them. 


1 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

SUBJECTS  OF  WHICH  MORE  MIGHT  BE  SAID. 

Woman’s  Rights. 

NWARD,  with  steady  tread, 
does  progression,  the  great 
active  and  vital  principle  of 
this,  as  of  all  other  worlds,  de¬ 
velop  all  that  is  required  in 
the  growth,  toward  the  per¬ 
fection  of  laws,  required  in  the 
social  and  moral  governments 
( of  the  human  race  ;  and  in  no 
way  is  this  so  palpable  as  in 
the  emancipation  of  woman 
from  the  slavery  and  thraldom 
of  past  ages.  Hitherto  looked 
on  in  the  light  of  property, 
and,  as  property,  subject  to 
the  whim  and  caprice  of  her 
owner  —  abused,  maltreated 
victimized,  used  for  the  exercise  of  his  lust,  his  passion,  his 
vanity  ;  bartered  and  sold — she  is  now  in  a  fair  way  of  se¬ 
curing  what  she  is  and  was  entitled  to  from  the  days  of 
Adam — equality  in  freedom  of  thought  and  action,  and  right 
in  person  and  property  equally  with  man. 

The  non-progressives  of  society — the  drags  upon  the 

378 


WOMAN'S  RIGHTS. 


379 


wheels  of  human  progress — assert  that  women  not  only  do 
not  desire  this  freedom,  but  that,  should  they  receive  it,  it 
would  in  a  measure  unsex  them,  and  render  them  unfit  for 
the  peculiar  sphere  allotted  to  them.  No  more  absurd  doc¬ 
trine  was  ever  promulgated,  for  in  proportion  as  women  de¬ 
sire,  receive  and  act  out  the  freedom  that  rightly  belongs  to 
the  lowest  as  well  as  the  greatest  of  God’s  representatives  on 
earth,  just  in  that  proportion  will  they  be  enabled  to  attain  * 
perfection  and  enjoy  happiness,  and,  as  a  sequence,  be  able 
to  fill  their  sphere,  be  it  in  the  quiet  walk  of  home  or  in  the 
excitement  of  legislative  debate;  be  it  in  the  rearing  of  a 
family,  or  in  governing  the  destinies  of  a  nation  ;  be  it  in 
educating  the  youthful  mind,  or  in  preaching  Christ’s  Gospel 
of  salvation. 

Out  of  slavery  comes  superstition,  imbecility,  ‘weakness, 
degradation,  and  a  lapse  backward  into  the  shadowy 
depths  of  hell.  Out  of  freedom  come  liberty  of  thought 
and  action,  strength  of  mind,  firmness  of  will,  perfection  of 
body  and  soul,  and  a  sure  and  steady  growth  into  the  glori¬ 
ous  light,  joy  and  happiness  of  heaven. 

Women  who  are  inert,  or  who  oppose  this  movement  for 
equal  rights  with  men  in  property  and  self,  know  not  what 
they  do.  If  such  women  have  men’s  adulation  and  appro¬ 
bation,  they  think  that  naught  else  is  requisite,  forgetting — 
in  the  fullness  of  their  vain,  frivolous,  egotistical  lives — that 
they,  separately  and  individually,  will  have  to  answer  in  the 
day  that  is  coming  for  the  use  or  abuse  of  the  talents  placed 
in  their  keeping,  and  that  their  natures — the  unawakened 
capabilities,  undeveloped  love-power,  and  untrained  soul-life 
— can  only  grow  into  a  resemblance  and  counterpart  of  that 
of  the  great  Master,  by  the  privilege  of  the  most  perfect 
freedom  of  thought  and  action,  and  the  fullest  rights  in  both 
person  and  property  consonant  with  the  rule  of  rules — the 
Golden  Rule. 

If  men  could  but  understand  and  realize  that  the  keeping 
of  woman  in  her  old  sphere  of  serfdom  prevents  their  own 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


*380 

growth  into  a  more  perfect  manhood,  they  would,  without 
the  delay  of  an  hour,  not  only  grant  her  all  the  freedom 
which  they  now  possess,  but  also  would  educate  her  into  the 
great  and  glorious  advantages  resulting  from  the  acquire¬ 
ment  of  that  freedom. 

As  are  the  women  of  a  nation,  so  are  the  men  of  a  na¬ 
tion  ;  as  are  the  women  of  a  family,  so4p.re  the  men  of  a  fam- 
h  ily.  Keep  a  woman — a  mother — in  bondage,  and  the  low 
conditions  that  spring  from  a  life  of  bondage  will  develop 
themselves  in  her  sons — the  future  men  of  the  nation.  Al¬ 
low  a  woman — a  mother — freedom,  and  the  noble  and  radi¬ 
ant  conditions  that  are  born  of  freedom  will  develop  them¬ 
selves  in  her  children — the  future  men  and  women  of  the  na¬ 
tion.  These  vital  facts  cannot  be  misunderstood  or  contro¬ 
verted  by  any  one  who  has  carefully  read  and  fully  under¬ 
stood  the  chapter  in  a  former  part  of  this  work,  on  the  Law 
of  Genius,  and  the  immense  and  almost  unbounded  influ¬ 
ence  of  the  mother  on  the  destiny  of  the  child  during  its 
pre-natal  influence.  Endow  a  woman  with  the  right  of  suf¬ 
frage,  the  right  to  her  own  person,  and  the  right  to  her  own 
property — rights  that  are  as  much  of  a  necessity  to  every 
one  of  God’s  children  as  the  right  to  live — and,  if  she  be  a 
mother,  the  influence  appertaining  to  the  exercise  of  these 
rights  will,  in  the  life  of  the  child,  develop  all  that  tends  to 
make  man  and  woman  true,  pure,  charitable,  and  Christ- like 
citizens  of  this  present  world,  and  God-like  citizens  of  the 
next. 

To  be  more  explicit :  the  rights  that  women  should  strive 
for,  obtain,  and  exercise,  are  : 

1.  The  right  of  suffrage. 

2.  The  right  to  own,  possess,  and  manage  property. 

3.  The  right  to  a  share  in  the  management  of  the  govern¬ 
ment  of  the  country — local  and  general. 

4.  The  right  to  adopt  any  employment  in  life  for  which 
her  capabilities  adapt  her — with  equal  pay  for  equal  work. 

5.  The  right,  equally  with  man,  to  all  the  advantages  ap- 


WOMANS  RIGHTS.  381 

pertaining  to  the  various  educational  institutions  throughout 
the  land. 

6 — and  last,  but  certainly  not  the  least — the  right  to  her 
own  person. 

The  violation  of  this  last  “right”  by  the  man  and  hus¬ 
band,  whose  existence  centres  in  the  animal,  and  the  sensual 
pleasures  that  come  of  perverted  amativeness,  has  done 
more  for  woman’s  debasement,  degradation  and  misery,  than 
has  the  violation  of  all  the  other  “  rights”  enumerated.  This 
fact  will  be  more  fully  understood  and  appreciated  by  those 
who  have  read  Chapters  IX.  and  XI.,  but  especially  Chap¬ 
ter  XXII. 

Let  unprogressive  men  object  and  oppose  ;  let  inert 
women  despise  and  decry ;  the  time  must  come — is  even 
here — when,  notwithstanding  the  galling  servitude  of  ages, 
all  womankind  will  secure  in  full  measure  liberty  and  equal¬ 
ity  equally  with  man,  and  the  perfection  and  happiness  that 
comes  of  its  exercise. 

All  honor  to  the  noble  women  and  brave  men,  the  ad¬ 
vanced  apostles  in  the  cause  of  universal  emancipation — the 
perfect  freedom  of  the  whole  human  race,  irrespective  of  col¬ 
or,  sex,  or  nationality — for  in  doing  this,  the  work  of  their 
lives,  they  have  advanced,  with  mighty  strides,  the  kingdom 
of  God  on  earth.  Their  reward  in  the  next  life  will  be  great 
and  enduring. 


Woman’s  Work. 

An  ever-recurring  question  to  mothers  is  :  “  What  shall 
we  do  with  our  daughters  ?” — and  the  almost  constant  solu¬ 
tion  is:  “  Get  them  married.”  So  the  plan  of  life  for  the 
daughter  is  arranged.  She  is  put  to  school,  where  she  ac¬ 
quires  the  accomplishments  necessary  to  the  securing  of  the 
condition  aimed  at — these  accomplishments  tending,  as  a 
rule,  to  make  her  life  more  than  ever  a  superficial  and  de¬ 
ceitful  one.  Her  “  education”  finished,  she  lives  in  a  condi- 


382 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


tion  of  comparative  idleness  and  dependence  until  the  hoped- 
for  event  is  reached. 

Even  allowing  this  to  be  the  true  mode  of  life  to  be 
adopted  for  girls  and  young  women — which  it  certainly  is 
not — one-quarter  to  one-half  of  these  women  cannot  be¬ 
come  wives.  In  England  and  Wales  there  are  from  four  to 
five  thousand  women  who  are  obliged  to  remain  single  in 
consequence  of  the  excess  in  numbers.  In  Massachusetts, 
in  the  year  1 860,  the  women  outnumbered  the  men  by  thirty 
thousand  ;  and  in  the  State  of  New  York  there  are  nearly 
forty  thousand  more  women  than  men,  between  the  ages  of 
fifteen  and  twenty,  and  the  same  relation  holds  good  with 
nearly  all  the  older  States.  This  large  number  of  women, 
who  have  no  hopeful  chance  of  getting  married,  must  do 
either  of  two  things — live  a  life  of  dependence,  or  work, 
and  the  question  presents  itself :  “  What  can  they  do  ?” 
Heretofore,  unmarried  women  have  been  restricted  to  serv¬ 
ice,  sewing,  teaching,  or  writing — occupations  of  a  necessity 
that  are  crowded,  making  the  pay  for  labor  done  very  small. 
The  remedy — a  simple  one — is  to  throw  open  to  her  every 
avocation  for  which  she  possesses  a  decided  talent.  Equally 
with  boys,  she  should  be  started  in  life  with  the  purpose  of 
acquiring  and  cultivating  the  qualities  necessary  to  the  trade 
or  profession  she  is  to  adopt.  She  should  not  only  be  born 
with  a  talent  or  genius  for  the  department  of  life  which  she 
is  intended  to  fill,  but  she  should  be  reared  and  educated  to 
it ;  and,  on  attaining  majority,  she  should  keep  the  object  in 
view  with  a  singleness  of  aim  and  steadiness  of  purpose  that 
will  preclude  the  dreaming  and  castle-building  appertaining 
to  marrying  and  marriage.  In  doing  this,  should  the  offer 
of  marriage  present  itself,  and  it  consort  with  the  Law  of 
Choice,  good  and  well.  Should  the  offer  not  present,  or  if 
presented  be  undesirable,  still  good  and  well;  for  a  woman, 
young  or  old,  having  in  her,  by  transmission  or  thorough 
cultivation,  the  talents  which  when  exercised,  make  her  in¬ 
dependent,  she  can  enjoy  the  pleasure  of  life  much  more  in- 


WOMAN’S  WORK  383 

tensely,  whether  married  or  unmarried,  and  much  more  so 
unmarried  than  when  married  and  not  mated. 

“  We  do  not  see  why  women  should  not  do  light  work  on 
the  farm,  keep  books,  become  tellers  in  the  banks,  agents 
for  insurance  companies,  engage  in  various  kinds  of  busi¬ 
nesses,  enter  the  professions.  At  present  her  education  un¬ 
fits  her  for  many  of  these,  but  training  comes  from  experi¬ 
ence.  No  one  can  learn  how  to  swim  until  he  goes  into  the 
water.  When  we  enter  upon  this  experiment,  then  women 
will  learn  from  practice  to  do  many  things  for  which  both 
she  and  the  community  now  think  her  unfitted. 

“  When  a  young  man  becomes  of  age,  he  is  expected  to 
take  care  of  himself,  and  this  stimulates  him  to  exertion. 
In  the  few  cases  of  rich  men’s  sons,  who  rely  upon  their 
fathers,  we  see  what  the  effect  of  dependence  is.  Generally 
it  robs  the  young  man  of  energy,  and  begets  habits  of  idle¬ 
ness  and  indulgence.  Can  our  girls  be  trained  to  depend¬ 
ence  without  like  results  ? 

“  We  do  not  advocate  a  plan  of  life,  or  system  of  educa¬ 
tion,  which  ignores  the  generic  differences  of  sex.  What  we 
maintain  is,  that  woman  should  be  trained  to  do  the  work 
for  which  she  is  fitted,  and  should  do  this  just  as  men  do 
theirs. 

“  What  can  she  do  ?  This  must  be  determined  by  trial, ' 
and  not  be  prejudiced  by  false  theories.  The  changes  that 
have  already  been  made  have  improved  her  industrial  and 
social  position.  It  is  comparatively  within  a  short  period 
that  woman’s  work  was  limited  to  domestic  service,  sewing 
and  teaching. 

“  Let  woman  be  trained  to  the  employments  which  require 
skill,  and  you  at  once  raise  her  wages.  Open  new  avenues 
of  work,  and  she  will  not  be  obliged  to  stitch  her  own  death- 
shroud.  At  once  she  becomes  more  independent,  and  rises 
in  intelligence.  When  young,  the  girl  will  not  be  simply 
fondled  as  a  doll,  or  treated  as  a  toy,  but  be  educated  in 
the  invaluable  habits  of  self-reliance  and  independence. 


3§4 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


Her  character  will  be  strengthened,  and  her  faculties  en 
larged. 

“But  we  are  told  that  if  you  educate  the  daughter  for  a 
distinct  vocation  or  profession,  you  unfit  her  for  domestic 
duties.  This  is  not  true,  as  experience  testifies. 

“  In  fact,  we  maintain  that  the  training  which  comes  from 
these  varied  vocations  is  a  much  better  preparation  for  the 
duties  of  a  wife  or  mother  than  the  girl  gets  at  our  fashion¬ 
able  boarding-school,  or  in  a  life  of  ease  at  home — alterna¬ 
ting  between  idleness  and  parties.  We  have  vastly  more 
hope  of  the  future  generation,  when  our  mothers  early  in 
life  are  trained  to  some  industrial  employment  or  profession, 
than  now,  when  in  so  very  many  cases  that  period  is 
wasted.” 

Much  encouragement,  and  much  good,  sound,  practical 
advice  is  contained  in  a  late  letter  from  Florence  Nightin¬ 
gale,  who  says  : 

“  I  have  worked  hard — very  hard — that  is  all — and  I  have 
never  refused  God  anything ;  though,  being  naturally  a  very 
shy  person,  most  of  my  life  has  been  distasteful  to  me.  I 
have  no  peculiar  gifts.  And  I  can  honestly  assure  any 
young  lady,  if  she  will  but  try  to  walk,  she  will  soon  be  able 
to  run  the  ‘  appointed  course.’  But  then  she  must  learn  to 
walk,  and  so  when  she  runs  she  must  run  with  patience. 
(Most  people  don’t  even  try  to  walk.) 

“  i.  But  I  would  also  say  to  all  young  ladies  who  are 
called  to  any  peculiar  vocation,  qualify  yourselves  for  it  as  a 
man  does  for  his  work.  Don’t  think  you  can  undertake  it 
otherwise.  No  one  should  attempt  to  teach  the  Greek  lan¬ 
guage  until  he  is  master  of  the  language  ;  and  this  he  can 
become  only  by  hard  study.  And, 

“  2.  If  you  are  called  to  man’s  work,  do  not  exact  a 
woman’s  privileges — the  privilege  of  inaccuracy,  of  weak¬ 
ness,  ye  muddleheads.  Submit  yourselves  to  the  rules  of 
business,  as  men  do,  by  which  alone  you  can  make  God’s 
business  succeed ;  for  He  has  never  said  that  He  will  give 


WOMAN'S  WORK. 


385 


His  success  and  His  blessing  to  inefficiency — to  sketching 
and  unfinished  work. 

“  3.  It  has  happened  to  me  more  than  once  to  be  told  by 
women:  ‘  Yes,  but  you  had  personal  freedom.’  Nothing 
can  well  be  further  from  the  truth.  I  question  whether  God 
has  ever  brought  any  one  through  more  difficulties  and  con¬ 
tradictions  than  I  have  had. 

“4.  But  to  women  I  would  say,  look  upon  your  work, 
whether  it  be  an  accustomed  or  an  unaccustomed  work,  as 
upon  a  trust  confided  to  you.  This  will  keep  you  alike  from 
discouragement  and  from  presumption,  from  idleness  and 
from  overtaxing  yourself.  Where  God  leads  the  way,  He 
has  bound  Himself  to  help  you  to  go  the  way. 

“  If  I  could  really  give  the  lessons  of  my  life  to  my  coun¬ 
trywomen  and  yours  (indeed,  I  fain  look  upon  us  as  all  one 
nation) — the  lessons  of  my  mistakes  as  well  as  of  the  rest — 
I  would ;  but  for  this  there  is  no  time.  I  would  only  say 
work — work  in  silence  at  first,  in  silence  for  years — it  will 
not  be  time  wasted.  Perhaps  in  all  your  life  it  will  be  the 
time  you  will  afterward  find  to  have  been  best  spent ;  and  it 
is  very  certain  that  without  it  you  will  be  no  worker.  You 
will  not  produce  one  ‘  perfect  work,’  but  only  a  botch  in  the 
service  of  God.” 

As  far  as  women  become  self-supporting,  they  will  be 
emancipated  from  the  bondage  of  dependence,  and  be  more 
free  in  respect  to  marriage.  This  relation  will  not  be  en¬ 
tered  upon  to  secure  a  support,  as  is  so  often  done  now,  but 
more  from  the  promptings  of  affection.  The  home  will  not 
be  less  sacred  and  hallowed,  but  will  rest  on  a  more  secure 
basis. 

This  movement  in  favor  of  woman’s  emancipation  finds  a 
cordiality  in  the  spirit  and  influence  of  Christianity.  Every 
step  made  in  improving  her  condition  has  been  stimulated 
by  the  teachings  of  Christ.  As  we  carry  on  this  work,  re¬ 
ligion  will  be  the  gainer,  society  reap  the  benefit,  and  home 
be  made  more  effective. 


25 


386 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


Divorces. 

Marriage,  as  God  intended  it  should  be,  differs 
widely  from  the  institution  concerning  which  ministers,  in  its 
performance,  say:  “What  God  has  joined  together  let  no 
man  put  asunder.”  I  do  not  believe  that  in  thousands  of 
these  so-called  marriages  God  or  His  divine  laws  have  any¬ 
thing  to  do  with  them,  for  to  imagine  -so  would  be  to  assert 
that  He  is  fallible.  The  great  aim  and  object  of  existence 
in  this  world  is  to  perfect  each  one  themselves,  to  help  oth¬ 
ers  to  do  so,  and  to  enjoy  the  happiness  that  comes  of  well¬ 
doing.  As  a  necessity  to  the  attainment  of  this  highest 
state  of  perfection  and  happiness,  the  divine  institution  of 
marriage  was  originated  coeval  with  Adam  and  Eve  on 
earth. 

That  marriage,  in  our  age,  fails  in  this  its  divine  purpose 
is  lamentably  the  case ;  yet,  in  so  failing,  is  it  right  that  the 
union  should  be  continued,  or  a  separation  take  place,  or  a 
divorce  be  granted.  The  question,  I  think,  is  not  difficult 
of  solution  ?  If  a  man  and  woman  enter  the  state  of  mat¬ 
rimony,  and  after  a  time  discover  that  through  deceit,  hy¬ 
pocrisy,  intrigue  or  force,  one  or  the  other  develops  qualities 
that  tend  to  debase,  degrade,  and  make  miserable  a  human 
life — instead  of  elevating,  ennobling,  and  making  happy  and 
perfect  two  human  lives — then  it  is  naught  but  right  that  a 
divorce  be  granted,  or  at  least  a  separation  take  place.  I 
hold  that  anything  that  is  an  obstacle  to  the  individual’s  at¬ 
tainment  of  perfection  and  happiness,  in  this  life,  should  be 
avoided  or  removed  when  it  does  not  conflict  with  the  right 
of  others ;  and  that  therefore  a  wife  who,  although  doing  all 
that  her  best  nature  can  do  to  make  her  married  existence 
one  of  enjoyment  and  perfection,  is  nevertheless  abused, 
maltreated,  or  wronged  in  any  of  the  many  ways  that  sor¬ 
did,  licentious,  brutal,  or  covetous  husbands  may  demon¬ 
strate,  is  perfectly  justified  by  the  laws  of  Nature,  if  not  by 
the  laws  of  man,  in  separating  or  being  divorced  from  such 


DIVORCES.  387 

a  husband.  The  same  argument  applies  with  equal  force  to 
the  man  when  the  wife  is  the  transgressor. 

Yet,  though  I  hold  divorce  to  be  a  necessity  under  these 
circumstances,  I  do  not  allow  that  it  is  right  for  either  the 
divorced  or  separated  man  or  woman  to  again  marry.  It  sa¬ 
vors  too  much  of  uncleanliness,  adultery  and  fornication. 
It.  runs  contra  to  all  that  is  pure,  clean  and  chaste,  that  a 
separated  or  divorced  man  or  woman  should  again  marry. 
Beside,  such  men  and  women  are  apt  to  make  precisely  the 
same  mistakes  in  forming  new  unions,  and  repeating  the 
same  role  of  mis-mated  miseries,  separation  and  divorce, 
making  the  institution  that  should  be  divine  in  its  nature  and 
observance  a  mockery  and  a  farce. 

The  subject  is  too  deep  and  too  broad  to  here  enter  large¬ 
ly  into  details ;  but  let  us  look  briefly  at  some  of  the  causes 
for  this  great  proportion  of  mis-mated  misery  and  the  sub¬ 
sequent  separation  and  divorce. 

Primarily  stands  out  boldly  the  selfishness  and  lustfulness 
(coupled  with  ignorance  of  physiological  laws)  of  human¬ 
kind  in  the  choice  of  life-companions.  When  any  of  these 
traits  are  in  danger  of  being  exercised,  or  physical  laws 
broken,  the  State  or  Government,  as  guardians  of  their  peo¬ 
ple’s  welfare,  should  step  in  and  prevent  the  consummation 
of  what  would  be  known  by  those  better  educated  as  certain 
to  terminate  disastrously. 

This  is  lamentably  not  the  case ;  for,  “  while  one-half  the 
clergy  spend  their  time  and  energies  in  denouncing  divorces, 
the  other  half  seem  equally  busy  in  preparing  the  way  for 
them.  We  have  already  mentioned  the  case  of  an  Episco¬ 
pal  clergyman  in  this  city,  who  recently  married  a  school¬ 
girl  of  sixteen  to  a  young  fellow  who  applied  to  him  to  per¬ 
form  the  ceremony,  and  cases  of  this  kind  are  of  constant 
occurrence.  A  St.  Louis  paper  states  that  a  clergyman 
there,  after  marrying  one  couple,  wanted  to  know,  in  that 
playful  spirit  so  becoming  to  the  clerical  character,  if  there 
were  any  other  parties  who  desired  to  be  married,  when  a 


383 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


couple  of  young  people,  deeming  it  a  good  joke,  stepped  up 
and  were  married  also.  They  were  greatly  surprised  to 
learn  that  the  ceremony  was  no  joke,  but  that  they  were  ac¬ 
tually  made  one,  and  compelled  to  live  together,  for  better 
or  worse,  till  death.  Yet  these  same  clergymen  will  insist 
that  marriage  is  a  divine  institution — that  the  parties  to  it 
have  been  ‘joined  together  by  God,’  and  that  they  must  not 
be  ‘put  asunder  by  man.’  There  is  nothing  more  impious 
than  such  pretensions,  and  nothing  more  prolific  of  divorces 
than  marriages  thus  performed.” 

Now,  if  ministers  of  God’s  Word — teachers  of  the  people 
in  the  way  of  life — act  in  this  loose  and  careless  manner  in 
the  performance  of  what  should  be  a  divine  institution,  what 
can  be  expected  of  the  selfish,  licentious  and  heedless  mul¬ 
titude,  who  hurriedly  crowd  into  the  doing  of  all  that  is 
wrong  in  life  ? 

As  a  preventive  to  mis-mated  marriages,  laws  should  be 
enacted  that  would  reduce  the  number  of  persons  authorized 
to  perform  the  marriage  ceremony.  These  authorized  per¬ 
sons,  before  being  allowed  to  unite  persons  applying,  should 
require  sworn  proof :  I.  That  the  man  and  woman  have  ar¬ 
rived  at  proper  ages  (which  proper  ages  are  recorded  in  a 
previous  chapter) ;  2.  That  they  are  mutually  willing  to  be 
married  ;  3.  That  they  furnish  evidence  of  good  character 
and  good  health ;  4.  That  they  produce  evidence  that  they 
have  never  been  heretofore  married,  and  subsequently  sepa¬ 
rated  or  divorced  ;  5.  The  consent  of  the  parents  or  guard¬ 
ians  might  or  might  not  be  deemed  necessary,  depending 
on  whether  the  laws  allowed  children  to  marry  ;  and  that  the 
violation  of  any  of  these  requirements  be  promptly  followed 
by  a  penalty,  and  that  some  one  be  appointed  to  enforce 
such  laws  and  penalties. 

If  the  above  precautions  were  adopted,  and  good  faith 
fully  observed,  coupled  with  the  education  of  the  masses  in 
the  true  laws  of  living,  and  the  elevation  of  woman  to  an 
equality  with  man,  much  if  not  all  the  misery,  separations 


BATHS— HOW  TO  TAKE  THEM. 


389 


and  divorces  that  appertain  to  married  life  would  disappear, 
giving  place  to  marriages  that  would  embody  what  God  in¬ 
tended  they  should — ineffable  peace,  holy  joy,  intense  hap¬ 
piness,  and  the  daily  growth  into  a  love  so  strong,  so  pure, 
so  radiant,  as  to  imply  fellowship  with  Jesus  the  Christ. 

Baths — How  to  Take  Them. 

Scattered  through  these  pages  are  allusions  to  the  taking 
of  different  kinds  of  baths.  To  enable  the  reader,  or  pa¬ 
tient,  as  the  case  may  be,  to  more  fully  comprehend  their 
nature,  mode  of  employing,  etc.,  is  the  object  of  their  inser¬ 
tion  here. 

Towel  or  sponge-bath.  Rubbing  the  whole  surface  of  the 
body  rapidly  with  a  coarse,  wet  towel  or  sponge,  followed 
by  a  dry  towel  and  after-friction  with  the  hands,  constitutes 
this  process.  This  bath  may  be  taken  daily,  and  is  abso¬ 
lutely  required  in  all  those  whose  desire  is  for  clearness  of 
skin  and  purity  of  body. 

The  sun  and  air-bath  can  be  enjoyed  only  on  a  clear  and 
bright  day,  when,  with  the  body  entirely  nude,  lying  on  a 
mattress  or  lounge,  the  direct  and  unobstructed  rays  of  the 
sun  are  allowed  to  fall  on  the  body.  Persons  unused  to  this 
bath  should  at  first  not  remain  in  it  longer  than  five  or  ten 
minutes,  gradually  extending  the  time  to  thirty  minutes. 
The  life-giving  qualities  of  this  bath,  to  be  understood  and 
appreciated,  require  only  an  occasional  trial. 

Hip  or  sitz-bath.  A  small-sized  wash-tub  will  do  for 
this,  although  tubs  constructed  with  a  straight  back,  and 
raised  four  or  five  inches  from  the  floor,  are  much  the  most 
agreeable.  The  water  should  just  cover  the  hips  and  lower 
part  of  the  abdomen.  A  blanket  should  be  thrown  around 
the  patient,  who  will  find  it  also  useful  to  rub  or  knead  the 
abdomen  with  the  hands  or  fingers  during  the  bath.  This 
bath  may  be  continued  from  fifteen  to  thirty  minutes. 

Wet- sheet  packing.  On  a  bed  or  mattress  two  or  three 


390 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE, 


comfortables  or  bed-quilts  are  spread  ;  over  them  a  pair  of 
flannel  blankets,  and  a  wet  sheet  (rather  coarse  linen  is  best) 
wrung  out  lightly.  The  patient,  undressed,  lies  down  flat 
on  the  back,  and  is  quickly  enveloped  in  the  sheet,  blanket, 
and  other  bedding.  The  head  must  be  well  raised  with  pil¬ 
lows,  and  care  must  be  taken  to  have  the  feet  well  wrapped. 
If  the  feet  do  not  warm  with  the  rest  of  the  body,  a  jug  of 
hot  water  should  be  applied  ;  and  if  there  is  tendency  to 
headache,  several  folds  of  a  cold  wet  cloth  should  be  laid 
over  the  forehead.  The  usual  time  for  remaining  in  the 
pack  is  from  forty  to  sixty  minutes.  It  may  be  followed  by 
a  towel  or  sponge-bath. 

The  wet  girdle.  Three  or  four  yards  of  crash  toweling 
makes  a  good  one.  One  half  of  it  is  wet  and  applied  round 
the  abdomen,  followed  by  the  dry  half  to  cover  it.  It 
should  be  wet  as  often  as  it  becomes  dry. 

Injections. — These  are  warm  or  tepid,  cool  or  cold.  The 
former  are  used  to  allay  pain  and  produce  free  discharges  ; 
the  latter  to  check  excessive  evacuations  and  strengthen  the 
bowels.  For  the  former  purpose  a  large  quantity  should  be 
used,  and  for  the  latter  purpose  only  a  small  quantity. 

General  bathing  rides.  Never  bathe  soon  after  eating,  but 
only  when  the  stomach  is  empty,  or  nearly  so.  The  water 
should  be  soft,  and  the  room  of  a  comfortable  temperature. 
No  bath  should  be  taken  when  a  feeling  of  fatigue  is  pres¬ 
ent.  Between  eleven  and  twelve  o’clock  in  the  forenoon  is 
the  best  time  for  bathing.  After  a  bath  is  taken,  and  the 
skin  thoroughly  dried,  the  surface  of  the  body  should  be 
briskly  rubbed  for  five  minutes  with  the  dry  hands.  And 
remember,  that  without  proper  and  careful  attention  to  diet, 
exercise,  rest,  and  pure  air,  bathing  in  itself  will  not  amount 
to  much  as  a  health  restorative. 

Quacks,  Drugs,  and  Patent  Medicines. 

Patients  who  may  be  afflicted  with  any  disease  mentioned 


QUACKS ,  DRUGS,  ETC. 


39i 


in  Chapters  XXIII.  and  XXIV.,  must,  if  they  desire  a  quick 
recovery,  avoid,  in  any  shape  or  any  form,  or  under  any 
conditions,  the  leeches  who,  through  ingeniously  devised  ad¬ 
vertisements,  circulars,  or  yellow-covered  pamphlets,  pro¬ 
pose,  for  a  consideration  in  advance ,  secretly  and  confiden¬ 
tially  to  cure  them  of  their  trouble.  These  quack  doctors 
are  a  curse  to  civilization.  They  never  get  a  victim  within 
their  cunningly  contrived  coils,  but  that  they  rob  him  not 
only  of  money,  but  of  health — and  often  in  such  a  measure 
that  they  never  recover  it.  In  the  testimonials  of  cure  they 
flourish,  they  lie ;  in  the  assertion  that  they  studied  in  Lon¬ 
don  or  Paris,  they  lie ;  in  the  declaration  that  they  are  reg¬ 
ularly  graduated  M.D.’s,  they  very  often  lie;  and  in  their 
promise  to  cure,  they  lie — knowingly  and  understanding^ 
lie.  The  lives  of  these  men — or  rather  charlatans — are 
made  up  of  brazen-faced  hypocrisy,  low  cunning,  theft  and 
lying — hypocritical  in  their  assertions,  cunning  in  their  ex¬ 
pressions,  thieving  in  their  extortions,  and  lying  in  all  they 
do  or  say.  When  a  man  has  transgressed  and  suffers  the 
penalty,  let  him,  if  he  be  a  young  man,  confide  in  his  pa¬ 
rents  or  the  family  physician,  instead  of  writing  to  some  far 
distant,  or  personally  applying  to  some  near  by  quack.  The 
parents  will  advise  and  suggest,  and  the  family  physician,  or 
any  other  physician  or  surgeon  of  good  repute,  will  help  him 
to  a  cure,  and  both  will  do  so  without  the  smallest  breach  of 
trust.  It  is  through  fear  of  exposure  that  many  patients  are 
led  to  consult  with  quacks,  but  such  patients  should  under¬ 
stand  that  no  physician  living  in  their  immediate  neighbor¬ 
hood,  having  a  just  regard  for  his  own  character  and  repu¬ 
tation,  will  allow  the  slightest  hint  to  escape  concerning  the 
maladies  of  any  of  his  patients.  Therefore,  avoid  all  man¬ 
ner  of  quack  doctors,  for,  no  matter  in  what  form  they  pre¬ 
sent  themselves,  they  carry  in  their  wake  deceit,  robbery, 
and  disease  aggravated  and  intensified. 

If  one  could,  by  some  sleight-of-hand  endeavor,  convert 
a  small  portion  of  every  drug  and  patent  medicine  into  the 


392 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


embodiment  of  a  quack  doctor,  they  would  represent  and  re¬ 
quire  for  their  exposition  precisely  the  same  words  as  have 
been  applied  to  these  self-same  quacks,  with  the  additional 
result  that  premature  death  much  sooner  overtakes  the  vic¬ 
tims.  Drugs,  no  matter  in  what  form,  under  what  condi¬ 
tions,  in  what  quantity,  under  what  name,  patented  or  oth¬ 
erwise,  have  been,  are,  and  will  continue  to  be,  in  proportion 
to  their  use,  a  great  and  positive  curse  to  God’s  human  family. 

This  great  and  almost  universal  delusion — namely,  that  by 
the  taking  of  drugs  or  patent  medicines  a  sick  person  can  be 
restored  to  health,  is  shown  in  all  its  absurdity,  in  the  suppo¬ 
sition  that  what  will  make  a  well  person  sick  will  make  a  sick 
person  well.  This  is  a  great  fallacy,  as  is  sadly  shown  by 
the  millions  that  have  passed  off  from  the  earth’s  surface,  be¬ 
fore  half  their  days  were  spent.  Since  the  creation  of  the 
world — or  since  the  days  of  Hippocrates,  if  you  will — drugs 
never  have  cured  one  single  person  having  disease  of  any  na- 
ture.  When  it  is  asserted  they  have  done  so,  it  will  be  found 
on  close  examination  and  argument  that  the  person  has  re¬ 
covered  comparative  health  in  spite  of  the  drugs ,  and  not 
through  their  influence. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

A  HAPPY  MARRIED  LIFE — HOW  SECURED. 

UPPOSING  the  husband  and  wife 
to  have  been  united  under  the 
conditions  mentioned  in  a  former 
part  of  this  book,  it  would  hardly 
be  necessary  to  say  much  con¬ 
cerning  the  heading  of  this  chap¬ 
ter,  for  they  would — in  fact  could 
not  well  help — living,  an  enjoy¬ 
able,  harmonious,  and  lovable 
married  life. 

But,  unfortunately,  where  one 
couple  are  united  under  physiological  principles,  there  are  a 
hundred  thousand  that  are  not,  and,  as  an  almost  certain  re¬ 
sult,  there  follows  unhappiness  in  some  one  or  other  of  its 
many  developments.  Now,  if  these  “married  but  not 
mated”  parties  would  notice  and  follow  a  few  plain,  gener¬ 
ally  applicable,  and  easily  observed  rules,  they  would  do 
much  toward  mitigating  the  many  trials  that  appertain  to 
married  life  as  exemplified  in  this  nineteenth  century. 

In  the  choosing  of  husbands  and  wives,  it  is  patent  to  all 
observing  minds  that  .the  selfish  and  secretive  faculties  large¬ 
ly  predominate  with  the  vast  majority  of  human-kind.  Af¬ 
ter  a  few  days  of  wedded  life — after  the  glamour  that  at¬ 
taches  itself  to  the  exercise  of  the  lustful  that  is  in  them  is 
exhausted — idiosyncrasies  of  habit  and  character  that  neither 


393 


394 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


admire  or  desire  show  themselves  in  each  other ;  and  it  may 
be,  and  often  does  happen,  that  in  due  time  a  separation  or 
divorce  is  secured  on  account  of  “  incompatibility.”  It  is  a 
noticeable  thing  that  these  same  parties  who  have  rushed 
out  of  an  unhappy  union  on  account  of  “incompatibility,” 
are  just  as  ready  to  rush  into  another  marriage,  seemingly 
quite  as  injudicious  as  the  one  they  have  escaped  from. 

The  first  great  requirement  necessary  in  those  whose  de¬ 
sire  is  for  a  happy  and  lovable  married  life,  is  that  the  hus¬ 
band  and  wife  come  to  a  definite  and  conclusive  understand¬ 
ing  as  regards  the  Law  of  Continence.  The  faithful  observ¬ 
ance  of  this  law  I  consider  one  of  the  fundamental  require¬ 
ments  in  a  successful  married  life.  A  life  of  chastity  is  pre¬ 
eminently  a  true  and  lovable  life,  while  a  life  of  lust  leads 
very  far  from  the  growth  of  two  souls  into  one.  It  should 
be  allowed  by  the  husband  that  with  the  wife  should  rest  the 
question  as  to  the  time  when  she  wished  to  accept  the  sa¬ 
cred  trust  of  maternity.  What  a  great,  dark,  heavy  cloud 
would  be  swept  off  from  the  hearts  of  womankind — married 
womankind — if  this  law,  the  right  of  woman  to  her  own  per¬ 
son — the  right  to  deny  all  approaches,  save  and  only  when 
she  desired  maternity — was  universally  respected.  But  ah  ! 
the  millennium  is  yet  a  very  great  way  off,  and  although  re¬ 
form  writers  and  speakers  are  doing  much  toward  the  de¬ 
sired  end,  yet  will  women  have  to  suffer,  endure  and  wait. 

If  it  can  be  agreed  upon  between  the  husband  and  wife 
that  they  will  endeavor,  by  the  best  efforts  of  their  nature, 
to  live  a  pure,  chaste  and  continent  life,  they  will  have  made 
a  very  long  step  in  the  direction  of  growth  toward  a  perfect 
unity  of  souls 

A  great  assistance  to  a  just  observance  of  this  Law  of 
Continence  between  the  husband  and  wife  is  the  occupying 
of  different  beds  ;  for  that  matter,  no  two  or  more  persons 
should  make  a  practice  of  habitually  sleeping  together,  for 
the  reason  that,  by  contact,  the  weaker  in  vital  force  will  ab¬ 
sorb  from  the  stronger,  and  so  produce  in  the  stronger  a  loss 


4 


A  HAPPY  MARRIED  LIFE.  395 

of  power  in  the  nervous  system,  as  indicated  by  peevish¬ 
ness,  fretfulness,  fault-finding,  etc.  For  this  reason,  children 
should  not  be  allowed  to  sleep  together  or  with  grown-up 
persons ;  men  should  not  sleep  with  men,  women  with 
women,  or  should  husbands  and  wives  who  desire  to  lead  a 
true,  pure,  and  lovable  married  life  habitually  sleep  to¬ 
gether. 

Especially  should  wives,  when  they  imagine  their  hus¬ 
bands  have  slighted  or  ill  used  them,  avoid  recounting  their 
troubles  to  some  “  very  dear  friend,”  who,  in  nine  cases  out 
of  ten,  will  so  argue  the  subject  as  to  make  the  wife  really 
begin  to  feel  that  she  is  sadly  abused,  and  in  a  dreamy  way 
to  think  of  separation.  The  only  proper  plan  is  to  go  to 
the  husband,  and  in  a  quiet  way  recount  to  him  her  sup¬ 
posed  grievances.  It  may  be,  and  is  often  the  fact,  that  the 
husband  may  be  entirely  ignorant  of  the  pain  or  trouble  he 
carelessly  is  inflicting,  and  only  requires  his  attention  drawn 
to  the  fact  to  prevent  a  repetition. 

Perfection,  in  the  very  far  off  future,  may  appear  on  earth, 
but  just  now  the  human  race  lacks  the  elements  necessary  to 
this  end.  To  look  for  perfection  in  a  husband  or  wife  is 
simply  an  absurdity.  We  all  have  our  faults,  failings,  and 
backslidings.  Some  of  these  are  infinitessimal  in  their  pro¬ 
portions,  and  capable  of  bein'g  remedied  by  earnest  endeav¬ 
or  ;  while  some  of  them  are  so  glaring  and  positive  in  their 
character  as  to  be  a  deformity  in  the  soul  of  the  individual. 
Of  the  small  faults — the  disputes,  the  differences,  the  sudden 
angers,  etc. — the  explosives  of  imperfect  human  souls,  these 
would  I  most  urgently  advise  the  husband  and  wife  to  strive 
earnestly  to  avoid.  It  is  astonishing  how,  with  the  vast  ma¬ 
jority  of  mankind,  and  especially  womankind,  little  trifles, 
little  troubles,  and  little  pains  will  cut  so  much  deeper  and 
last  longer  than  would  any  great  wrong.  When  anything 
has  occurred  that  appears  in  the  remotest  way  to  disturb  the 
harmony  of  married  life,  immediately  should  the  party  who 
has  done  the  wrong  make  a  full  and  open  confession.  It  is 


396 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 


hard  for  some  to  do  this — especially  is  it  so  for  the  majority 
of  men — but  it  is  the  only  true  way  of  reparation  ;  confess, 
and  promise  to  try  not  to  repeat  the  deed  done.  Our  Sa¬ 
viour  has  said  :  “  Offences  will  come,”  and  at  the  same  time 
He  gave  the  remedy,  good  for  all  time  :  “  Go  and  tell  it  be¬ 
tween  thee  and  him  alone.”  The  neglect  of  this  simple  rule 
has  been  not  only  a  cause  of  estrangement  between  hus¬ 
bands  and  wives,  but  between  relatives,  friends  and  neigh¬ 
bors. 

Says  Alger,  in  his  “Friendships  of  Women  :” 

“  Let  a  husband  be  the  pure  and  true  guardian  of  his  fam¬ 
ily,  laboring  always  to  adorn  himself  with  the  god-like  gems 
of  wisdom,  virtue,  and  honor ;  let  him  bear  himself  in  rela¬ 
tion  to  his  wife  with  gracious  kindness  toward  her  faults, 
with  grateful  recognition  of  her  merits,  with  steady  sympa¬ 
thy  for  her  trials,  with  hearty  aid  for  her  better  aspirations, 
and  she  must  be  of  a  vile  stock  if  she  does  not  revere  him 
and  minister  unto  him  with  all  the  grace  and  sweetness  of 
her  nature. 

“  Let  a  wife,  in  her  whole  intercourse  with  her  husband, 
try  the  efficacy  of  gentleness,  purity,  sincerity,  scrupulous 
truth,  meek  and  patient  forbearance,  an  invariable  tone  and 
manner  of  deference,  and  if  he  is  not  a  brute  he  cannot  help 
respecting  her  and  treating  her  kindly,  and  in  nearly  all  in¬ 
stances  he  will  end  by  loving  her  and  living  happily  with 
her. 

“  But  if  he  is  vulgar  and  vicious,  despotic  and  reckless,  so 
as  to  have  no  devotion  for  the  august  prizes  and  incorrup¬ 
tible  pleasures  of  existence ;  if  she  is  an  unappeasable  ter¬ 
magant  or  a  petty  worrier,  so  taken  up  with  trifling  annoy¬ 
ances  that  wherever  she  looks  ‘  the  blue  rotunda  of  the  uni¬ 
verse  sinks  into  a  housewifery  room if  the  presence  of 
each  acts  as  a  morbid  irritant  on  the  nerves  of  the  other,  to 
the  destruction  of  comfort  and  the  lowering  of  self-respect, 
their  companionship  must  infallibly  be  a  companionship  in 
wretchedness  and  loss. 


A  HAPPY  MARRIED  LIFE . 


397 


“  The  banes  of  domestic  life  are  littleness,  falsity,  vulgar¬ 
ity,  harshness,  scolding,  vociferation,  an  incessant  issuing  of 
superfluous  prohibitions  and  orders,  which  are  regarded  as 
impertinent  interferences  with  the  general  liberty  and  repose, 
and  are  .provocative  of  rankling  or  exploded  resentments. 
The  blessed  antidotes  that  sweeten  and  enrich  domestic  life 
are  refinement,  high  aims,  great  interests,  soft  voices,  quiet 
and  gentle  manners,  magnanimous  tempers,  forbearance  from 
all  unnecessary  commands  or  dictation,  and  generous  allow¬ 
ances  of  mutual  freedom.  Love  makes  obedience  lighter 
than  liberty.  Man  wears  a  noble  allegiance,  not  as  a  collar, 
but  as  a  garland.  The  Graces  are  never  so  lovely  as  when 
seen  waiting  on  the  Virtues  ;  and,  where  they  thus  dwell  to¬ 
gether,  they  make  a  heavenly  home.” 

Closely  allied  to  a  man’s  disposition  or  “  temper,”  as  also 
the  woman’s,  is  the  food  they  eat  and  the  stomach  they  put 
it  into.  I  have  no  doubt  that  in  thousands  of  cases,  from 
the  baby  up  to  the  father,  these  “  offences”  of  disposition  in 
the  members  of  a  family  are  caused  by  indigestion,  badly 
cooked  and  unhygienic  food,  placed  in  a  stomach  for  solu¬ 
tion  and  digestion  that  is  irritable,  feverish,  worn  out,  and 
incapable  of  promptly  converting  the  mess  sent  down  into 
blood  without  many  and  positive  expostulations,  which  ex¬ 
postulations  are  sent  by  nerve-telegraph  to  the  individual’s 
brain,  producing  in  his  soul  that  state  of  feeling  best  adapted 
to  be  at  war  with  all  mankind,  his  family,  and  himself.  There 
is  no  doubt  about  it,  that  many  a  person  feels  irritable,  pee¬ 
vish,  fretful,  fault-finding,  cross,  etc.,  who  only  requires  to 
live  on  plain,  unstimulating  diet  and  two  meals  a  day  to  re¬ 
gain  their  normal  and  natural  beauty  and  harmony  of  mind 
and  disposition. 

Another  requirement,  in  those  who  desire  a  pleasurable 
married  life  is  employment.  It  is  a  necessity  to  our  exist¬ 
ence  on  this  earth  that  we  work — so  that  work,  rest  and 
recreation  will  greatly  assist  to  the  end  we  are  all  striving 
for :  happiness  and  growth  toward  perfection.  Now,  if  a 


398 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE . 


wife  be  of  the  kind  termed  “lazy,”  and  especially  if  she  be 
of  the  fashionably  lazy  variety,  family  quarrels,  with  their 
attendant  miseries,  and  perhaps  eventually  separation,  are  as 
sure  to  follow  as  day  follows  night.  Show  me  a  man  who 
lives  and  does  not  work,  and  I  will  show  you  a  rascal.  And 
if  a  man  or  woman  have  not  sufficient  mental  or  physical 
work  to  keep  them  employed  during  the  day,  you  can  assert 
with  a  certainty  that  mischief,  either  of  a  physical  or  moral 
nature,  will  result.  These  facts  apply  with  full  force  in  the 
direction  of  all  husbands  and  wives  who  desire  to  live  united 
lives. 

In  the  doing  of  work,  great  care  must  be  taken  not  to 
overlook  its  legitimate  object.  Work,  as  a  road  to  wealth, 
a  fortune  and  retirement,  runs  contra  to  all  divine  laws  ;  and 
yet — 

“  The  great  aim  of  the  mass  of  mankind  is,  to  get  money 
enough  ahead  to  make  them  ‘  comfortable  ;’  and  yet  a  mo¬ 
ment’s  reflection  will  convince  us  that  money  will  never  pur¬ 
chase  ‘  comfort,’  only  the  means  of  it.  A  man  may  be  ‘com¬ 
fortable’  without  a  dollar ;  but  to  be  so,  he  must  have  the 
right  disposition — that  is,  a  heart  and  a  head  in  the  right 
place.  There  are  some  persons  who  are  lively,  and  cheerful, 
and  good-natured,  kind  and  forbearing  in  a  state  of  poverty, 
which  leans  upon  the  toil  of  to-day  for  to-night’s  supper  and 
the  morning’s  breakfast.  Such  a  disposition  would  exhibit 
the  same  loving  qualities  in  a  palace  or  on  a  throne. 

“  Every  day  we  meet  with  persons  who  in  their  families 
are  cross,  ill-natured,  dissatisfied,  finding  fault  with  every¬ 
body  and  everything — whose  first  greeting  in  the  breakfast 
room  is  a  complaint,  whose  conversation  seldom  fails  to  end 
in  an  enumeration  of  difficulties  and  hardships,  and  whose 
last  word  at  night  is  an  angry  growl.  If  you  can  get  such 
persons  to  reason  on  the  subject,  they  will  acknowledge  that 
there  is  some  ‘  want’  at  the  bottom  of  it ;  the  ‘  want’  of  a 
better  house,  a  finer  dress,  a  more  handsome  equipage,  a 
more  dutiful  child,  a  more  provident  husband,  a  more  cleanly 


A  HAPPY  MARRIED  LIFE . 


399 


or  systematic  or  domestic  wife.  At  one  time  it  is  a  ‘  wretch¬ 
ed  cook,’  which  stands  between  them  and  the  sun  ;  or  a  lazy 
house-servant,  or  an  impertinent  carriage-driver.  The  ‘  want’ 
of  more  money  than  Providence  has  thought  proper  to  be¬ 
stow,  will  be  found  to  embrace  all  these  things.  Such  per¬ 
sons  may  feel  assured  that  people  who  cannot  make  them¬ 
selves  really  comfortable  in  any  one  set  of  ordinary  circum¬ 
stances,  would  not  be  so  under  any  other.  A  man  who  has 
a  canker  eating  out  his  heart,  will  carry  it  with  him  wherev¬ 
er  he  goes  ;  and  if  it  be  a  spiritual  canker,  whether  of  envy, 
habitual  discontent,  unbridled  ill-nature,  it  would  go  with 
the  gold,  and  rust  out  all  its  brightness.  Whatever  a  man  is 
to-day  with  a  last  dollar,  he  will  be,  radically  and  essentially, 
to-morrow  with  a  million,  unless  the  heart  is  changed.  Stop, 
reader,  that  is  not  the  whole  truth,  for  the  whole  truth  has 
something  of  the  terrible  in  it.  Whatever  of  an  undesira¬ 
ble  disposition  a  man  has  to-day  without  money,  he  will 
have  to-morrow  to  an  exaggerated  extent,  unless  the  heart 
be  changed — the  miser  will  become  more  miserly;  the  drunk¬ 
ard  more  drunken;  the  debauchee  more  debauched;  the 
fretful  still  more  complaining.  Hence,  the  striking  wisdom 
of  the  Scripture  injunction  that  all  our  ambitions  should  be¬ 
gin  with  this  :  ‘  Seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  Plis 
righteousness — that  is  to  say,  that  if  you  are  not  comfort¬ 
able,  not  happy  now,  under  the  circumstances  which  sur¬ 
round  you,  and  wish  to  be  more  comfortable,  more  happy, 
your  first  step  should  be  to  seek  a  change  of  heart,  of  dis¬ 
position,  and  then  the  other  things  will  follow — without  the 
greater  wealth  /” 

The  wife,  equally  with  the  husband,  should  guard  with 
jealous  care,  all  secrets  of  home-life.  Many  wives  have  the 
faculty  of  going  around  among  their  neighbors,  and  expos¬ 
ing — often  in  a  greatly  magnified  form — every  little  event 
that  transpires  between  the  inmates  of  her  household — a 
most  reprehensible  practice.  Consider,  I  pray  you,  all  the 
troubles,  differences  and  irritations,  be  they  great  or  small. 


400  THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE. 

as  inviolate  secrets,  known  only  to  your  husband,  yourself, 
and  your  God. 

To  a  couple  that  are  newly  married,  I  think  it  is  a  neces¬ 
sity  to  their  happiness  that  they,  in  commencing  a  home- 
life,  exclude  therefrom  everybody — mothers,  brothers,  fath¬ 
ers,  aunts,  etc.,  who  should  not  be  allowed  to  help  make  up 
the  new  household.  The  presence  of  any  one  or  more  of 
these  relatives  prevents,  in  a  thousand  ways,  the  growth  into 
the  aims  involved  in  a  true  married  life.  Mothers-in-law, 
especially,  have  an  established  reputation  for  starting  little 
troubles  and  differences  between  husband  and  wife.  Of 
course,  there  are  mothers  who  are  noble  exceptions  to  this 
rule,  but  alas  !  they  are  rare. 

Zchokke,  in  one  of  his  tales,  gives  the  following  excellent 
advice  : 

“  In  the  first  solitary  hour  after  the  ceremony,  take  the 
bridegroom  and  demand  a  solemn  vow  of  him,  and  give  a 
vow  in  return.  Promise  each  other  sacredly,  never — not 
even  in  jest — to  wrangle  with  each  other,  never  to  bandy 
words  or  indulge  in  the  least  ill-humor.  Never — I  say,  nev¬ 
er  !  Wrangling  in  jest,  putting  on  an  air  of  ill-humor 
merely  to  tease,  becomes  earnest  by  practice.  Mark  that ! 
Next,  promise  each  other,  sincerely  and  solemnly,  never  to 
keep  a  secret  from  each  other,  under  whatever  pretext,  and 
whatever  excuse  it  might  be.  You  must  continually,  and 
every  moment,  see  clearly  into  each  other’s  bosom.  Even 
when  one  of  you  has  committed  a  fault,  wait  not  an  instant, 
but  confess  it.  And  as  you  keep  nothing  from  each  other, 
so,  on  the  contrary,  preserve  the  privacies  of  your  house, 
marriage  state,  and  heart,  from  father,  mother,  brother,  sis¬ 
ter,  aunt,  and  from  all  the  world.  You  two,  with  God’s 
help,  build  your  own  quiet  world.  Every  third  or  fourth 
one  you  draw  into  it  with  you  will  form  a  party,  and  stand 
between  you  two.  That  should  never  be.  Promise  this  to 
each  other.  Remember  the  vow  at  each  temptation.  You 
will  find  your  account  in  it.  Your  souls  will  grow,  as  it 


A  HAPPY  MARRIED  LIFE. 


401 


were,  to  each  other,  and  at  last  will  become  as  one.  Ah,  if 
many  a  pair  had,  on  their  marriage-day,  known  the  secret, 
how  many  a  marriage  were  happier  than,  alas,  they  are  !” 

When  a  married  couple  are  really  desirous  of  living  a 
true,  pure,  and  harmonious  life,  the  object  to  be  aimed  at,  to 
secure  such  a  result,  is  the  daily  growth  into  unity  of  thought, 
of  purpose,  and  of  mind.  This  approach  to  similarity  of 
souls  constitutes  the  great  secret  of  a  perfect  union.  I  am 
acquainted  with  a  gentleman  who  is  eighty  years  of  age,  and 
also  with  his  wife,  who  is  seventy-five.  You  would  imagine, 
on  first  seeing  them,  that  they  were  brother  and  sister,  so 
closely  do  they  resemble  each  other;  and  not  only  in  the 
face  is  this  similarity  noticeable,  but  also  in  their  talk,  ex¬ 
pressions,  and  actions.  Now  this  couple  began  married  life 
as  country  people  usually  do,  and,  of  course,  had  their  little 
differences  of  character  when  first  married  ;  but  fifty  years  of 
married  life — a  simple,  earnest,  Christian  married  life — has 
resulted  in  the  perfect  union  of  two  souls — a  union  that  will 
be  continued,  and  grow  stronger,  purer,  and  more  Christlike 
in  the  next  world.  I11  these  days  of  unhappy  marriages, 
separations  and  divorces,  it  does  one  an  infinity  of  good  to 
meet  such  a  perfect  married  couple.  Incidentally  I  may 
mention  that  they  have  reared  eleven  children,  every  one  of 
them  being  alive  and  healthy  ;  and  I  may  also  mention  an¬ 
other  fact — namely,  that  the  husband,  every  night  of  his 
life,  with  his  family  gathered  around  him,  reads  a  chapter  in 
the  Bible,  followed  by  prayer.  Now  it  is  just  as  easy  for 
the  great  majority  of  married  people  to  emulate  this  couple 
as  it  is  for  them  to  do  the  reverse.  All  that  is  required  is 
unbounded  patience  with  each  other,  while  each  is  trying  to 
wear  smooth  the  jarring  angularities  that  appertain  to  all 
individualities.  Smoothness  and  similarity  come  after  a  time, 
and  eventually  growth  into  a  perfect  love-union  results. 

Does  it  ever  happen,  once  in  a  hundred  thousand  times, 
that  a  newly-married  wife  and  husband,  especially  during  the 
so-called  “honeymoon,”  ever  bend  their  knees  in  prayer  be- 

26 


402 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  A  NEW  LIFE . 


fore  the  throne  of  God,  asking  for  His  assistance,  His  guid¬ 
ance,  His  love,  in  their  new  sphere  of  life  ?  I  think  not.  I 
may  be  mistaken  in  the  proportion  ;  but  certainly,  in  the 
great  majority  of  newly  married  lives,  instead  of  thoughts  of 
Christ  and  purity,  will  be  found  the  works  of  lust  and  the 
Devil. 

Now  I  record  it  as  an  incontrovertible  fact,  that  in  no 
married  circle  can  true  peace,  love,  purity,  chastity  and  hap¬ 
piness  be  found  in  which  is  not  present  the  spirit  of  Christ, 
and  the  daily  and  hourly  striving  after  loving  obedience  to 
His  divine  commands,  and  especially  the  nightly  prayer  for 
blessings  received  or  desires  unfulfilled. 

Let  the  married  adopt  and  follow  these  hints ;  let  them  ex¬ 
ercise  common  sense,  sympathy,  sensibility  and  benevolence 
toward  each  other ;  let  them  wear  the  garb  of  modesty  and 
delicacy,  cheerfulness  and  contentment ;  let  them  grow  into 
a  love  of  domestic  life ;  let  them  have  children  and  love 
them  ;  let  them  ever  exercise  the  spirit  of  self-denial,  never 
omitting  mutual  concessions  and  forbearance  ;  let  them  ever 
observe  order  and  system,  neatness  and  industry,  economy 
and  frugality ;  let  them  ever  exercise  the  true  and  pure  that 
is  in  them,  and  nightly  let  their  united  souls  join  in  prayer 
to  the  Father  of  us  all ;  let  them  grow  into  the  best  part  of 
their  natures,  and  grow  out  of  the  bad  that  is  in  them,  and 
with  hearts,  heads  and  destinies  united,  they  will  go  up  into 
the  Mount  of  Transfiguration,  and  bring  to  earth  the  King¬ 
dom  ol  Heaven, 


Abortion,  232. 

Age  at  which  to  marry,  30. 

Advertising  for  a  wife,  6i,  71. 

Alcoholic  liquors,  use  of,  66,  152,  210. 
Amativeness,  95. 

- perverted,  67. 

- cause  for  abuse  of,  98. 

After-birth,  expulsion  of,  247. 

Amnion,  179. 

Allantois,  179 
Air  and  light,  191. 

A  happy  married  life — how  secured,  393. 
Abdomen,  enlargement  of,  219. 

Baths,  125,  192,  389. 

Bread,  how  to  make,  123. 

Bedrooms,  124. 

Bathing  rules,  390. 

Beds,  124. 

Business,  retiring  from,  164. 
Blastodermic  membrane,  176. 

Burns,  the  poet,  200. 

Breasts,  pain  in  the,  231. 

Bladder,  iriflammation  of,  351. 

- Irritation  of,  231. 

Buboes,  334. 

Causes  for  remaining  single,  25. 

Cousins,  marrying,  55,  69. 

Corpus  Luteum,  80. 

Cowper  glands,  85. 

Conception,  prevention  of,  108. 
Continence,  law  of,  114,  162. 

- definition  of,  116. 

Companions,  choice  of,  126. 

Children,  their  desirability,  13 x. 

- beautiful,  160,  209. 

- idiotic,  214. 

Crowded  populations,  134. 

Chastity,  162. 

Conception  of  a  new  life,  169. 

Chorion,  174,  179. 

Costiveness,  228. 

Chancroid,  the,  332. 

Colestrum,  84,  258 
Cerebellum,  95. 

Child,  dressing  of,  254. 


Child,  Feeding  of,  255. 

Confinement,  238. 

- Preparations  for,  242. 

- clothing  in,  238 

—  - Food  in,  239. 

- Drink  in,  240. 

- Baths  in,  241. 

- Injections  in,  241. 

- Air  and  light  in,  241. 

Chlorosis,  312. 

Dress  and  ornament,  54,  123. 

Disposition,  162. 

Decidua  reflexa,  174. 

- vera,  174. 

Diet  of  mothers  during  gestation,  189 
Diarrhoea,  229. 

Delivery,  management  of,  249. 

-  Bandage  after,  250. 

- Visitors  after,  251. 

Divorces,  386. 

Divorced  women,  marrying,  58. 

Early  marriages,  evil  results  of,  32. 
Epididymis,  86. 

Ejaculatory  ducts,  89. 

Eating,  122. 

Exercise,  123. 

Employment,  126. 

Education,  when  it  should  be  commenced,  143. 
Egg,  fecundated,  173. 

- growth  of,  182. 

Enlarged  womb,  219. 

Emissions,  involuntary  nocturnal,  343. 

- - diurnal,  347. 

Face,  a  beautiful,  54. 

- development  of,  185. 

Fallopian  tubes,  78. 

Fainting,  227. 

Feet  and  limbs,  swelling  of,  231. 

Farmers  and  farming,  146. 

Fruit-growers,  156. 

Foeticide,  275—305. 

Gestative  influence,  period  of,  188. 

Graafian  follicles,  78. 

Genius,  law  of,  136. 

- definition,  of,  144. 


403 


404 


INDEX ; 


Genius,  principles  of,  139. 

Gestatory  influence,  period  of,  141. 
Geologist,  156. 

Gonorrhoea,  325. 

Gleet,  328. 

Heartburn,  229. 

Headache,  230. 

Heart,  palpitation  of,  231. 

Hysterical  women,  51. 

Hymen,  75. 

Hip  or  sitz-bath,  389. 

Hysteria,  231. 

Impotence  in  man,  373. 

Injections,  390. 

Ill  health  in  women,  51. 

Intra-uterine  growth,  173. 

Introductory  preparation,  period  of,  141. 
Inventor,  154. 

Infants,  artificial  feeding  of,  261. 

- weaning  of,  262, 

Jaundice,  232. 

Law  of  choice,  36. 

Love  analyzed,  45. 

- mock,  46. 

- filial,  46. 

- brotherly,  46. 

- of  God,  46. 

Labia  majora,  75. 

- minora,  75. 

Licentiousness,  inherited,  21 1. 
Longings,  226. 

Licentious  life,  effects  of,  118. 

Labor,  commencement  of,  243. 
Leucorrhoea,  320. 

Masturbation,  353. 

Marriage,  19,  25. 

Marrying,  objects  in,  28. 

Magnetism,  47. 

Modern  accomplishments,  53. 

Men,  effeminate,  68. 

- large,  68. 

Menstruation,  81. 

Mammary  glands,  83. 

Musicians,  157. 

Moral  sentiments,  159. 

Money,  feverish  pursuit  of,  164. 
Morning  sickness,  218. 

Mammary  changes  in  pregnancy,  218. 
Miscarriage,  232 
Milk  fever,  253. 

Meconium,  253. 

Menstruation,  absent,  307. 

- retained,  309. 

- suppressed,  309. 

- chronic,  309. 

- irregular,  309. 

- painful,  310. 

- profuse,  31 1. 

- cessation  of,  312. 

Napoleon  I.,  200. 

Non-emission,  351. 

Nipples,  83. 

Nausea,  218. 

Nursing  influence,  period  of,  141. 
Nipples,  sore,  253. 

Nursing  influence,  period  of,  266. 
Ovaries,  78. 

- inflammation  of,  313. 

Ovum  or  egg,  14 1. 

Order  and  system,  313. 

Phrenology,  59,  43. 


Prolapsus  uteri,  316. 

Pruritis,  322,  229. 

Phimosis,  329. 

Paraphimosis,  329. 

Puberty,  31. 

Placenta,  174,  181. 

Purchasing  wives,  38. 

Piles,  226. 

Patent  medicines,  391. 

Prostate  gland,  inflammation  of,  331. 
Pregnancy,  ovarian,  82. 

- abdominal,  82. 

- tubal,  82. 

- signs  of,  218. 

- duration  of,  220. 

- disorders  of,  225. 

Prostate  gland,  85. 

Plan  of  life;  122. 

Quacks  and  drugs,  390. 

Quickening,  219. 

Religion,  what  it  consists  in,  159. 

Sex,  law  of,  92,  154. 

Syphilis,  337. 

Spermatorrhoea,  347. 

Sterility  in  women,  369. 

Sun  and  air-bath,  389. 

Soul-life,  when  it  commences,  188. 
Sexual  congress  during  gestation,  194. 
Salivation,  218. 

Secretion  of  milk,  219.  - 
Sleeplessness,  227. 

Scrotum,  86. 

Spermatic  cord,  88. 

Semen,  89. 

Spermatozoa,  89. 

Sexual  excesses,  effects  of,  105. 

Salt,  123. 

Self-made  men,  155. 

Salivation,  232. 

Teacher,  157. 

Truthfulness,  153,  207. 

Testicle,  swelled,  331. 

Transmitted  influence,  period  of,  145. 
Tabes  dorsalis,  347. 

Toothache,  230. 

Towel  or  sponge-bath,  389. 
Temperaments,  57. 

Tobacco,  use  of,  65,  152,  210. 

Testes,  86. 

Urethra,  structure  of,  330. 

Uterus,  75. 

- cavity  of,  77. 

- structure  of,  77. 

- inflammation  of,  313. 

- ulceration  of,  314. 

- tumors  in,  315. 

- - cancer  of  the,  315 

- corroding  ulcer  of  the,  316. 

- - displacements  of  the,  316. 

- anteversion  of,  320. 

- retroversion  of,  319. 

Umbilical  cord,  247. 

Vaccination,  232. 

Vegetarianism,  Adam  Smith  on,  150. 
Vegetarian  diet,  149. 

Vesiculae  seminales,  89. 

Vomiting  of  blood,  232. 

Vitellus,  segmentation  of,  175. 
Vulvitis,  322. 

Viability  of  child,  221. 

Vegetations,  331. 


INDEX. 


405 


Vagina,  75. 

Vas  deferens,  88. 

Woman’s  rights,  378. 
Widowers,  69. 

Woman’s  work,  381. 

Wife,  how  to  choose  a,  39. 
Wet-sheet  packing,  389. 
Wet  girdle,  390. 

Waists,  small,  52,  140. 


Will-power,  training  of,  126,  143. 
Wet-nurses,  259. 

Women,  small,  52. 

- strong-minded,  53, 

- lazy,  55. 

- Fashionable,  140. 

Weaning,  262. 

Widows,  marrying,  58. 
Zoosperms,  142. 


AUTHOR'S  NOTE. 


The  subjects  of  Pre-natal  Influence,  Law  of  Continence,  Law  of  Sex,  etc ,  as  con¬ 
tained  in  this  work,  are  of  such  manifest  importance,  and  so  intimateiy  affect  the  wel¬ 
fare  of  the  human  race,  as  to  merit  much  more  inquiry  and  investigation  than  has  here¬ 
tofore  been  bestowed  on  them.  If  any  reader,  in  the  fulness  of  a  practical,  observing  mind, 
has  noticed  any  particular  facts,  or  can  make  any  suggestions,  the  Author  would  be 
pleased  to  have  such  person  communicate  with  him.  No  theories  or  fancies  are  desired  ; 
only  facts — practical,  demonstrable  facts.  Letters  to  be  addressed  to  care  of  Publishers 


s 


HEALTH 


HINTS. 


Showing  how  to  Acquire  and  Retain  Bodily  Symmetry,  Healt! 

Vigor  and  Beauty. 


This  is  a  new  book  just  published,  that  contains  a  fund  of  rare,  valuable  and  practical 
information  on  subjects  that  interest  every  man  and  woman,  boy  and  girl.  A.  partial  list  of 
its  contents  is  as  follows: 

Chapter  /.—Laws  of  Beauty— Definition  of  Beauty— Different  styles  of  Beauty— The  perfect  Standard,  Ac.,  Ac. 

Chapter  II. — Hereditary  Transmission — Showing  how  parents  can  have  healthy  and  b  .autifx.  children,  Ac* 

Chapter  III. — Air,  Sunshine,  Water  and  Food— How  these  elements  influence  Health  and  Bccuty  A  whit' 
skin  and  pale  complexion  is  not  beauty — Sunlight  necessary  to  health— Ac.,  Ac.-  How  orpulence  may  he 

cureq the  Fat  made  Lean— How  Lean  people  may  become  Plump  and  Fat,  full  directions — 'you  need  not  tv- 

lean,  angular,  bony,  or  sharp  visaged,  when  by  following  the  directions  in  this  book,  you  can  a  quire  a  round 
ness' or  form,  and  a.  plumpness  and  rosiness  of  face,  that  will  be  a  delight  and  pleasure  to  look  up  nj  -Philosc 
phy  of  bathing — How  properly  to  wash  the  face,  ( few  know  how  to  do  this,  simple  as  it  may  appear) — VhaL 
food  to  avoid  by  those  who  wish  to  regain  or  retain  sound  health,  clear  skin  and  rosy  cheeks— Tho  Test  kind  cl 
Toilet  Soap  to  use,  Ac.,  Ac. 

Chapter  IV. — Work  and  Best— How  work  and  Best,  rightly  observed,  im.uence  Health  an  1  B.  uty. 

Chapter  V. — Dress  and  Ornament— Choice  of  color  in  Dress— /The  harmony  of  color  in  Dress  to  contras! 
with  the  fair,  blonde,  ruddy  blond,  pale  brunette,  and  florid  blond — &c.,  Ac. 

Chapter  VI. — The  Hair  and  its  Management — How  all  may  have  a  fine  head  of  hair — Falling  of  the  hair— 
To  manage  and  dress  the  hair  when  long — How  to  curl  the  hair,  without  injuring  it — The  best  Hair  Dress¬ 
ing — How  to  dress  the  hair  for  a  Photograph — Brittle  hair — How  grey  hair  can  be  restored  to  its  natural  color — 
To  restore  the  hair  in  Baldness — To  remove  superfluous  hair— Falling  of  the  hair — Best  combs  to  use — Care  o. 
hair  brushes  —When  and  how  to  cut  the  hair — Why  men’s  hair  falls  out  more  than  women’s — Different  method; 
of  washing  the  hair — How  heating  irons  and  frizzing  spoils  the  hair — How  the  use  of  patent  oils  and  pomades 
destroy  the  hair — How  to  make  and  use  the  best,  most  simple  and  harmless  hair  dressing  at  small  cost — Care 
of  long  hair  at  night — How  dandruff  and  itching  of  the  Scalp  may  be  cured,  Ac. — The  Beard  and  Moustache — 
What  boys  and  young  men  should  do  to  acquire  a  fine,  silky  and  handsome  Beard  and  moustaches,  Ac.,  Ac. 

Chapter  VII.  — Skin  and  Complexion — The  secret  of  acquiring  a  bright  and  beautiful  skin — How  to  avoid 
flabby  softness,  or  scraggy  leanness — Anatomy  and  uses  of  the  skin,  Ac.,  Ac. 

Chapter  VIII. — The  Mouth — giving  full  instructions  about  the  lips,  teeth,  breath — Lips  that  are  beautifu1 
repulsive,  how  caused — Biting  and  sucking  the  lips — To  prevent  chapped  lips — Habits  that  destroy  the  teetL 
To  prevent  tartar — The  best  tooth  brush — How  to  prevent  a  bad  breath,  Ac. 

Chapter  IX. — The  Eyes,  Ears  and  Nose — Habits  that  weaken  and  irritate  the  eye— The  best  light  to  wor. 
by — How  to  choose  spectacles  and  fit  them  to  the  eye — Care  of  the  ears — Deafness  how  to  judge  if  curab) 
Bed  noses— How  to  reduce  large,  fleshy  and  unsightly  noses,  Ac.,  Ac. 

Chapter  X. — The  Neck,  Hands  and  Feet — Care  of  the  hands — To  remove  warts — Care  of  the  finger  nai.  1 
To  cure  blisters,  corns  and  bunions,  Ac. 

Chapter  XI. — Growths,  Marks,  Ac.,  that  are  Enemies  of  Beauty — Gives  full  directions  for  the  cur 
Sunburn,  Freckles,  Pimples,  Wrinkles,  Warts,  Fleshworms — No  lady  possessing  a  copy  of  “  Health  Hi) 
need  longer  be  troubled  and  annoyed  by  these  enemies  to  a  pleasing  and  inviting  face  and  complexion,  Ac.,  i 

Chapter  XII.  — Cosmetics  and  Perfumery — This  chapter  among  other  things  gives  an  analysis  of  Per 
Moth  and  Freckle  Lotion,  Balm  of  White  Lilies,  Hagan’s  Magnolia  Balm,  Laird’s  Bloom  of  Youth.  Phah 
Enamel,  Clark’s  Bestorative  for  the  Hair,  Chevalier’s  Life  for  the  Hair,  Ayer’s  Hair  Vigor,  Professor  Woods  b 
Bestorative,  Hair  Bestorer  America,  Gray’s  Hair  Bestorative,  Phalon’s  Vitalia,  Biug’s  Vegetable  Ambrosia,  M 
Allen’s  World’s  Hair  Bestorer.  Hall’s  Vegetable  Sicilian  Hair  Benewer;  Martha  Washington  Hair  Bestora'- 
Ac.  Ac.,  (no  room  for  more,)  showing  how  the  lead,  Ac.,  in  these  mixtures  cause  disease  and  oftimes  pr 
ture  death. 

Price  50  cents,  or  handsomely  bound,  in  fine  cloth,  with  side  black  and  gold  stamp,  $ 

Bend  all  orders  only  to  the  Publishers. 


COWAN  &  Co., 


No.  139  Eighth  St.,  New  York. 


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